Appearances May Often Deceive
by Lila Turner
Summary: Modern day version of Pride and Prejudice. Where all the roles in the story are completely reversed and told through the male point of view. What if the girl is the one who's proud and wealthy. First impressions never reveal the real person inside.
1. Prologue

_**Appearances May Often Deceive **_

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**Author's Notes: I tried my best at making this a parallel universe, by having all the main characters be the opposite sex then those in the book. The only exception I made was Aunt Catherine. I thought about turning her character into an uncle, but I didn't think an uncle would be determined to have his niece marry somebody. Also since this is a modern day version, no way would people talk about cousins marrying cousins, so I changed that part as well. **

**It also made more sense to have Darcy's mother be alive in the story, verses having Mrs. Reynolds. To me they fill the same purpose, of having someone there to explain how she was as a child. **

**Finally, the Wickham issue. I have thought of a couple different ways to incorporate Wickham into this story. However, I have thought about it a lot and I think it will just slow down the plot. I don't think Wickham needs to be added because Mike Bennet is doing such a good job misinterpreting Amelia's actions on his own. I could always change my mind later, or just choose to make a reference to Wickham in regards to Amelia's brother's past. I haven't completely decided that part yet. **

**This is the first time I have ever attempted to write any type of story. I've been working on it for weeks now, because I wanted to have most of it done before I started posting it. I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations.**

**Prologue**

I'm Mike Bennet and this is my life. I know that sounds cheesy, but I'm not sure how else to say it. I'm 27 years old and work as a mechanic for my father's auto-body shop. I listen to rock and play the guitar. Actually I'm not really that great at it because I hardly ever practice, but I'm good enough. I live in an apartment over my parents' garage with my older brother John.

John is a year older than me and is my best friend. Other people in my position might have been jealous or envious of John, if it wasn't for the fact that he is just such a great guy. John is easy to talk to and always listens to what you have to say. You can always count on him when you need help. Plus he's smart, good looking and a great athlete. All the girls love him, though he has always been the reserved type. Unlike me. I always say what is on my mind. I think it comes from growing up in a house with five other males. Oh my poor mother. I can tell how difficult it was for her at times to raise five boys. The experience caused my dad to go prematurely gray.

John is my father's pride and joy, his first born and namesake. The only one of us to inherit my dad's blond hair and blue eyes. Think of my brother as a younger, taller version of Brad Pitt. Pre-Angelina Jolie, you know around the time that Troy came out. Yup that's my brother, pretty hard to compete with in the looks department. I, on the other hand, was once told that I looked like Josh Duhamel It was by a couple of drunk girls, but I liked to think that alcohol can't blur your vision too badly. I, along with the rest of my brothers, inherited my mother's brown hair and eyes.

You never would have guessed that my mother, the intellectual, married the good looking, school jock. They met each other because my mom had to tutor my dad, in order for him to keep his grades up to say on the football team. I guess it's the whole opposites attract thing, because I honestly don't think they had anything in common. I can't imagine marrying someone who isn't like me. I think in order for a relationship to work, it should be based on similar likes and dislikes. People should have a common background in order for them to properly understand each other.

I've always been popular with the girls, but I've never seemed to meet the right one. A lot of girls seem to just agree with everything I say, and can't hold an interesting enough conversation for very long. I want more. I want a girl that is smart and funny. Someone who is kind, compassionate and good with children. Someone who could surprise me, keep me guessing, never knowing what to expect from her.

I know I'm asking for too much. That would be the perfect woman, and even if she did exist, what's to say that she would be interested in me. What's to say that she wouldn't already be taken. No matter how difficult it might be to find her, I don't think I could ever settle for anything less. So I am currently single. My younger brother Matthew is also single.

Matthew is 25 and currently enrolled in graduate school. He wants to become a college professor. I think the career suits him because he just loves to lecture us, even though none of us ever really pay any attention to what he has to say. My parents are very proud of him, but especially my dad. Any child that saves him money holds a special place in his heart. Matthew has always had his nose stuck in a book. So it wasn't a big surprise when he earned a scholarship to the local university.

My two younger brothers, Chris and Leo, are students at the local community college. Leo just turned 21 and Chris is about to turn 23. Chris should have graduated by now, but like Leo he cares more about his fraternity than going to class and doing actual school work. The only way they have gotten by is with the help of all the pretty girls that they surround themselves with. They constantly hit on the girls in their classes by asking them to tutor them, sense they never pay attention in the few classes they actually attend.

Chris might be older, but Leo is the one with all the bright ideas. Like the time we all went up to the mountains and Leo dared Chris to take the ski lift to the highest mountain and snowboard down it. Neither one had ever skied or used a snowboard a day in their lives. "How hard can it be?" was their only response. Jackasses! All the way down the mountain the idiots were scared shit-less. They're lucky they didn't get their dumb-asses permanently stuck in a tree.

Chris and Leo have always been an embarrassment to the family, even when they were younger. Once when we were in church, Leo and Chris kept fighting over an armrest. Leo was nine and Chris was ten. They kept pushing each others arms off the armrest, because each wanted it for themselves. Every time they just kept pushing the other's arm harder and harder. They were complete oblivious to their surroundings, because they were so concentrated on their little war. Leo finally got so mad that he stood up, and smacked Chris over the head with a book of hymns in front of everyone. My mother was so mortified, she didn't know what to do.

Another one of their oh-so-clever ideas even got them kicked out of their fraternity house. The stunt involved Chris and Leo bored and drunk in their room, with a lighter and several different bottles of alcohol. The stunt ended with a $3,000.00 bill sent to my dad and an eviction notice with Chris and Leo's names on it. All they had to say was, "How were we supposed to know it would light up that fast?" Thanks to their pyrotechnic display, Chris and Leo are once again residing under my parents' roof. My poor mom has never known how two handle them, so they have always sought out my dad. Their antics remind my dad of himself when he was their age, so he always makes excuses for them. He always tells my mom, "Boys will be boys," and, "Just some harmless fun."

I may not be the life of the party like my younger brothers, but I know how to have a good time. I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy and make no apologies for it. And if girls don't like it, they can go talk to somebody else. I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not. And I'm not the type of guy to give girls false compliments and lame pick-up lines just to get them into bed.

Lately, my dad has made it his mission in life to get all his sons married. It all started when a couple of his buddies were bragging about all the grandkids they had. Somehow someone mentioned how weird it was for my dad to have five grown sons, over the age of 21, and none married. Now he feels his manhood has been threatened, sense none of us have reproduced. He believes that he should have more grandchildren than his friends, since he raised five healthy boys.

His manhood and pride will not be appeased until he has all of us walking down the isle.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Appearances May Often Deceive **_

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**Hi, thanks so much for the reviews. Here are the answers to your questions.**

**Sobee1982: **_I thought about naming Georgie's equivalent George Darcy. However, since the original had George Wickham I thought I should change the name to Jeff Darcy. I thought it sounded close enough. Like the original, we won't get to meet Jeff until the Pemberley chapters._

_I'm not sure about the total number of chapters because the Pemberley chapters are longer. I like long chapters, but I know some readers don't. So I am not sure if I should split some of those chapters into two. _

_In terms of how often I should post the next chapters, I'm not sure. This is the first __story I have ever written, so I'm not sure what is best. For example, if I choose not to __cut the Pemberley chapters in half, then I should probably wait longer to post the next __chapter. That way people will have a chance to catch up. But I guess it all depends on __how many people like the story._

**Juuromaru: **_At the end there is a crisis involving Leo, but I don't want to give away how __Darcy is involved. The reader will only know what Mike knows. I had written a section where you knew what Amelia was doing in the background, but I erased it. Since the reader only knows what Mike is thinking, it would destroy the flow if all of a sudden the reader knows what Amelia is up too. So the reader discovers her involvement when Mike does. _

_Amelia does have to overlook or get past something in order to help (instead of Wickham in the original story). It's definitely along the same lines as the original, but with a modern way for Darcy to help. I actually wrote all the ending chapters before anything else. But I can't say anymore because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. _

**Author's notes: The only thing I don't like about chapter one is that I don't get to show you much of their personalities. This is because they judge each other at face value. So you will see more parts of their personalities in chapter 2. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations.**

**Chapter 1**

"Boys! Boys! Over here!" my dad shouted. Oh man! John and I have just arrived to the annual Netherfield Block Party, and my dad is already embarrassing us. He just doesn't know the meaning of the word tact. We quickly walk over to them, while ignoring everyone's stares.

"Boys I have good news! Bob Long just told me his new neighbor is a pretty blonde, single woman in her twenties!" my dad said with enthusiasm. John and I just looked at each other, and then back at our dad with confused looks. Why should we care about Bob Long's neighbor.

"Don't you see! If she is in her twenties and can afford to buy a house, she must have money! She'll be perfect for John!" my dad said a little too loudly.

"Oh, no. Not the marriage thing again. Dad, why don't you give it a rest," I said exasperated.

"Be quiet. I said she was perfect for John, not you. Anyway, Bob told me that she would be coming today," he said turning back to John. John was way too polite to say anything other than thanks. John was really ready to settle down, but I don't think he appreciated our dad butting into his love life. We made our escape by saying we were going to get something to eat. That is when our dad told us he would be on the look out for the pretty blonde.

As we were eating our lunch, I looked up and something across the park caught my eye. I saw this beautiful girl standing next to a cute blonde. She definitely stood out, not only because she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, but because she was the only one dressed formally in a lavender, sleeveless dress that cut off right above the knee. She was elegant and graceful. She had straight brown hair that went down to her shoulder blades. She had these luscious, plump, pouty lips that were just waiting to be kissed. She had these big, beautiful brown eyes that I could only describe as intense. As well as long curly eyelashes. She had a cute button nose, and perfectly straight white teeth.

She was in one word, amazing. Her dress was one of those simple, business type dresses. So there was no flowing skirt, and no adornments of any kind. So the dress molded to her body perfectly. It showed off her flat stomach and amply curves. The color of the dress brought out her lightly tanned skin.

That's when my dad found us. "Boys! Boys! See those girls over there. That's her. Her name is Katie Bingley. But that's not all, look at the girl standing next to her. Bob just found out the brunette is Katie's best friend. Isn't she the most beautiful girl you've ever seen? Anyway, Bob just told me she helps to run a company that she will one day inherit. And, to top it all off, she has a trust fund. A trust fund! She's a trust fund baby! If you marry her, you'll have it made!" my dad said loud enough to get the people around us to take notice.

God, my dad is worse then the National Enquirer! Talk about embarrassing! Besides, I didn't care about the girl's trust fund, but I wouldn't mind getting to know her. She was exquisite. I turned to look at John and saw he was in entranced by the blonde. I don't think I've ever seen him look that way at any woman. I turned back and looked at Katie and saw she was smiling and laughing. She seemed to be good natured and cheery. She would be perfect for John.

"Come on! Let's go introduce ourselves!" our dad said excitedly.

"Dad we are quite capable of introducing ourselves," I told him.

"Yeah, dad I think we can handle it from here," John piped in.

"Nonsense," my dad said, "I'd like to meet my future daughters-in-law."

"Okay dad, you really need to knock it off. People can hear you! You are embarrassing us!" I said with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"I'm your father! You can't tell me what to do! Now I am going over there to introduce myself, are you coming?" he asked.

I really did not want the first time I spoke to this girl to be when I was standing next to my daddy. Yet I feared what he might say, if I wasn't there to try to do some damage control. I could tell John was thinking the same thing, so we both got up and started walking over. The brunette now had a palm pilot in her hand, and Katie was smiling as we approached. Katie even walked over to meet us part of the way.

"Hi," she said cheerfully, "I'm Katie Bingley and I just moved into the neighborhood."

"Hello, I'm John Bennet and these are my two oldest sons, John Jr. and Michael," my dad said.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you all," she told all of us, but never took her eyes off John.

I finally had to clear my throat to get them to break their gaze, and when Katie looked at me, I purposely looked over her shoulder. She turned and noticed her friend was still playing with her palm pilot, and hadn't noticed our approach. "Right," she said as she turned back to look at us, "that's Amelia."

Katie turned back towards her friend, "Amy. Amy!" she finally got her friend's attention. Her friend looked up and was a bit surprised to see us standing there. Katie motioned to her, and she walked over while putting her palm pilot away in her purse.

"Sorry," she said as she stood next to Katie.

"It's all right. Amelia, I'd like you to meet John and Michael Bennet, and their father John Bennet senior. Gentlemen this is my best friend, Amelia Darcy," Katie happily introduced us.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," she said as she shook our hands. It was pretty clear that she didn't plan to elaborate on her greeting. She just stood there and looked to Katie to continue the conversation. Which wasn't hard to do. Katie was a talker. It seemed like she wanted to know everything about us, especially John. Most of the questions were directed at him. I'm a talker myself, but John and Katie were getting along so well, I didn't feel the need to put myself in the conversation. To tell you the truth, I was too entranced by Amelia. She would look at whoever was speaking, so she didn't notice me gazing at her. I took the opportunity to study her features up close, while no one else seemed to notice. I was so grateful that my dad didn't embarrass us. He just asked how she was enjoying the neighborhood, and things pertaining to her move.

John then asked Katie if she wanted to get something from the dessert table. She agreed and asked Amelia if she wanted anything. Amelia shook her head and said no thanks. Then John, Katie and my dad walked away and left us alone together. I saw Amelia was looking around, and she appeared to be a little uncomfortable. Then I noticed her gaze was fixed towards the parking lot. She was looking at Leo and Chris unloading another keg from the back of Leo's pick-up truck. Maybe she's thirsty?

"Would you like a beer?" I finally asked.

"No thank you. I don't drink," she answered.

Well she must be the life of the party. Maybe she's really religious and that is why she looks so uncomfortable. She probably thinks we are a bunch of sinners that are going straight to hell.

That's when I heard a buzzing sound and she looked down to see that her cell phone was vibrating. She looked at the number and said she was sorry that she really had to take this call. She walked away, and that was the end of that. She obviously wasn't interested. So I took off to join the baseball game that was just about to start. After a couple innings, my team was up to bat so I went to get a bottled water. There were a lot of people playing, so I took my time, I knew it would be a while before it was my turn. When I walked back around the bleachers, I saw Amelia watching the game. Her back was to me and Katie had just approached her.

"I thought you said this was a party?" Amelia said annoyed. I guess our little shindig wasn't good enough for her.

"It is. What's wrong with it?" Katie asked confused.

"No, this is not a party. This is a Bar-B-Q. There is a difference," Amelia stated.

"What's the problem?" Katie asked still confused.

"If I would have known . . . " Amelia said while moving her hands up and down her body, gesturing to her attire.

"It's all right. No body cares. Hey, why are you dressed like that anyway?" Katie asked.

"I went to the office this morning," Amelia said flatly.

"Hello? It's Saturday!" Katie said aggravated.

"I know. Sometimes these things just can't be helped," Amelia said in her own defense.

"Hey, wait a second here. The office was probably empty this morning, so why did you dress up?" Katie asked accusingly.

"Well . . . I . . . happen to have a business dinner after this alright?" Amelia finally admitted.

"Amy! You have to stop this! Your working too much! What about your social life?" Katie said with concern.

So Amelia's a workaholic.

"I socialize at the office," Amelia replied defensively.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. You are consumed with your work all the time. And you and I both know that you don't have to be. You can delegate some of your responsibilities to others. Yet you choose to take care of everything yourself," Katie said sternly.

Man, Amelia must be a real control freak.

"And what is wrong with that?" Amelia asked.

"What about your social life? You're so tired after work, that you don't go out," Katie said.

"With who Katie? Since we've graduated from college, all of our friends have spread out across the country. Who, besides you, am I supposed to go out with? I have plenty of friends at work. And I don't need to go out with them afterwards, because I already see them all day long," Amelia replied.

"Well you can go out and make more friends," Katie stated simply.

"And where, pray tell, am I supposed to do that?" Amelia asked.

Pray tell. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that in real life. This girl obviously thinks she is all high and mighty.

"Here for starters," Katie said motioning with her head towards the people around her.

"You expect me to just walk up to some stranger and start talking to them?" Amelia asked incredulously.

"It's better than standing around here all alone, acting stupid," Katie said.

"Well you have already become acquainted with the most gorgeous guy here. So why are you wasting your time with me?" Amelia asked.

Oh, now their talking about John.

"He is gorgeous isn't he. I think he is the best looking guy I have ever seen in my life. And he is so nice. You know, his brother ain't that bad looking himself. I think you'll like him. Why don't you go talk to him?" Katie asked encouragingly.

"The mechanic? And what do you suppose we should talk about? Should I talk to him about my latest merger and acquisitions, or should we discuss when is the best time to change the spark plugs in my car?" Amelia said sarcastically.

What a bitch! This girl is a total snob.

"Fine. Be that way," Katie finally gave up.

"Now why exactly did you choose to move here again?" Amelia asked, changing the subject. Obviously our little town was not good enough for her.

She continued, "I mean I get it if you were married and were ready to start a family. But you're the only single person living alone on this whole block. Why leave the city? All our friends live there."

Katie answered, "It has always been my dream to have a house of my own. Why should I put it off? Because I'm not married? What if I never get married. What if I never find the right guy? I mean I keep on dating all these nice guys, but I still haven't found the right one. And what if I never meet him. Then I'll have never lived out my dream, if I wait for something that might not happen."

I liked that answer. She was trying to make her dream come true.

"Yeah I understand, but I think your dream really involves coming home to a family. Your family. Not coming home to an empty, four bedroom house. With all your friends living back in Meryton," Amelia replied.

What a real downer this one was. She may be beautiful, but she sure knew how to rain on someone's parade.

"Well, the house won't be empty for long. Louis and Heidi are coming to visit as soon as the rest of the furniture is delivered. They'll be staying for a few weeks. And Carl just bought a condo in Meryton. But he can't move in for at least six weeks, because it is still in the process of being built. However, his lease is already up, so he will be staying with me til his condo is ready. Besides, my best friend in the whole entire world loves me so much, that she'll come and visit on the weekends right?" Katie said as she put her arm around Amelia and laid her head on her shoulder.

"Right," Amelia replied solemnly.

Man what a spoiled, snotty little brat.

"Amy don't be that way. I know you don't want to spend your summer in the city. And Longbourn is only 25 miles away from Meryton. We'll see each other all the time," Katie said encouragingly.

Just then, my best friend Charlie Lucas snuck up behind me and whispered, "Eavesdropping or enjoying the view from behind?"

"No," I replied and Amelia and Katie turned around and noticed me for the first time.

I turned and looked at Charlie and said, "I was just thinking I should probably change the spark plugs in my car. Come on, lets get back to the game."

We walked towards the dug out and I didn't give the stuck up bitch a second look. Who cares what she thinks of me anyway.


	3. Chapter 2

_**Appearances May Often Deceive **_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations.**

**Chapter 2**

It had been three weeks since John met Katie, and they have seen each other practically every day since. I have never seen my brother act this way before. Every single conversation starts with Katie and I, Katie said, Katie did the funniest thing, Katie's so smart, Katie's so beautiful, Katie, Katie, Katie. The guy is in love. Not just love, but totally head over heels for this girl. I should be really annoyed that he can't go two minutes without talking about Katie, but he deserves to be happy. John is the greatest guy I know and I'm happy that he found the girl of his dreams.

"Katie's bringing her brothers to the party tonight, along with Amelia," John said while driving to the Lucas' Annual 4th of July party.

I groaned, "Not that bitch again! Why can't she just stay home!"

"You know Mike, I got to spend time with her while she was visiting Katie. She's really not that bad. I think she's really nice. I know what you told me she said at the Bar-B-Q, but maybe she was just having a bad day," John said.

"A bad day? What? Are you going to use PMS as an excuse for her acting like a stuck up snob?" I asked incredulously.

"No, but Katie told me she is just quiet around strangers. She said once Amelia really knows someone, she opens up and is a completely different person," John responded.

"That's why Katie is so perfect for you. You both try to see the good in people. Katie is so sweet that she probably hangs around Amelia because she is some kind of angel of mercy. Taking pity on poor friendless Amelia," I remarked.

"Katie and Amelia grew up together. Their parents live next door to each other, and Katie says they're inseparable. They're practically sisters," John said.

"Poor Katie, being stuck with Amelia her entire life. No wonder she moved away from her," I said with a smirk.

"Don't say that. Katie is smart and sweet. I trust her judgement, and I know she wouldn't have Amelia as a friend, unless she was worthy of her friendship. Actually, this is the first time in their entire lives that they haven't lived within a two-mile radius of each other," John replied.

"If I were Katie, I would have ditched her when I went off to college," I said with a smile.

"They actually chose the same college so they could room together. They also moved to Meryton together and shared an apartment. Until Amelia bought a townhouse and Katie moved here," John replied informatively.

"Where'd they move from?" I asked. I thought they had grown up in Meryton.

"A little town called Pemberley, about an hour north of Meryton," John replied as he parked the car.

We walked in to see the party was in full swing. Yeah, I know we're always late. I guess that's why I got five watches for my birthday this year. Anyway, Matt's band was playing. Unlike me, he always practiced his guitar. I think he is hoping that being part of a band will help him score with the ladies. They don't seem to be attracted to his know-it-all, intellectual persona. At least by performing, he won't spend the night getting shot down. He can't stand Chris and Leo constantly harassing him about be unable to get a girl. In the corner I spotted Chris and Leo, beers in hand and their new flavors of the week. I believe their names are Denise and Sandra. I don't know why I even bother to try to remember their names. They'll probably be replaced in a couple of days.

Then we saw Amelia and Katie standing near the refreshment table, so we walked up behind them. I heard Amelia ask, "So when can I have my cell phone back?"

Obviously she had more important things to do then be here. "At the end of the night. And you won't get your laptop and briefcase back until the end of the weekend. Now you are here to have fun. No work, got it?" Katie told her.

"Yes, mom," Amelia replied in a defeated tone.

"Good. Oh hi John, hey Mike," Katie turned and saw us.

John gave her a kiss on the cheek and said hi to Amelia. Amelia managed a hello and didn't say anything else.

"My brothers and sister-in-law are here. I would like you both to meet them," Katie said excitedly.

I saw Amelia grimace when Katie mentioned her brothers. She probably thought we weren't good enough to meet them. What a stuck up little bitch! Anyway, I couldn't wait to meet them. I'm sure they're as much fun as Katie. I saw Charlie and he came over and followed us. Katie brought us to a table in the corner of the room, where two men and a woman sat eating. "These are my older brothers, Carl and Louis. And this is my sister-in-law Heidi, Louis' wife," Katie said with a smile.

They all greeted us, and we sat down. Louis and Heidi just continued to eat, while Carl took control over the conversation. Carl was a lawyer and loved to talk. His most favorite subject being himself, as we soon learned. He quickly started to go on and on about all the cases he had won. He went on to give us all the boring little details of each case. How he had found some loop whole, or the other lawyers were so intimidated by him, that they settled out of court. I can't see how anyone could be intimidated by this skinny guy, dressed in a polo shirt and khakis. Now he was giving us the details of a murder case he had helped out on. Is it just me, or aren't all these things supposed to be confidential anyway? Aren't lawyers supposed to keep all the details of their cases hush, hush?

"Well you'll never believe why the DNA didn't match, it because of a genetic condition called Chimera . . . " Carl started.

"Oh, that's when a person has more than one kind of DNA," I said.

Everyone suddenly looked up and actually started to pay attention to the conversation. Like me, everyone else had kind of zoned out, and was only half listening to what Carl had been going on about. When Carl said Chimera, that is when he had gotten my attention. Carl was absolutely floored that I happened to know about this, "So you read the Harvard case study as well then?" he asked in an unbelieving voice.

"No," I replied.

"Well then, how did you hear about it?" he asked in a snotty kind of way.

"_All My Children_," I replied.

Amelia made a gasping type sound, put her hand over her mouth and turned to look the opposite direction. I could see her cheeks getting red, and when she looked back at me, I could see amusement in her eyes. I guess she was trying to stop herself from laughing.

"_All My Children_, as in the soap opera?" Carl asked with wide eyes.

John was giving me a questioning look, like when did I start watching soap operas? So I looked at him and said, "What? Mom had it on the other day when I was eating a sandwich."

John only lifted one eyebrow so I continued, "Hey, it's better then staring at the wall while I'm eating."

"So do you get all your scientific information from soap operas?" Carl asked with a smirk on his face.

"No, I get a lot of it from watching _CSI_," I replied with a smile.

Amelia started to cough, but I could tell she was trying to cover up her laughter. She must obviously think I'm an idiot. She was the only one to react that way. Everyone else was just looking at me, probably not knowing what to think. I don't care. I think Carl is a jackass, and Louis and Heidi are too quiet for me to think anything about them at all.

"I think I'm going to get something to drink. Anybody want anything?" I asked while getting up.

Everyone replied in the negative, so I walked over and got myself a beer. When I looked back at the table, I saw Carl try to put his arm around Amelia. The moment he did, she got up and walked over to throw away her paper plate. Instead of returning to Carl's side, she stood next to Mrs. Lucas and watched the band perform. When the song was over, Matt came up to me.

"Bro, will you fill-in for me for the next couple of songs? I really need to go to the bathroom, and there's a line," he remarked.

"I don't know. What are they going to play?" I asked.

"Don't worry. They won't play any song you don't know. Just tell them the ones you know by heart, and they'll choose one," Matt replied.

"Okay," I said as Matt headed to the bathroom.

As I walked over and picked up Matt's guitar, Leo ever so tactfully screamed from across the room, "Yo Mike, you gonna play?"

I just nodded at him. I didn't want to cause more attention by yelling back. But Leo doesn't know the meaning of the word subtle, especially when he's been drinking. "Good, Matt just plays all that sappy stuff. Play something with a beat. We want to dance!" he yelled out from across the room.

I noticed the room had gone silent, and all eyes were now on me. I turned to the members of the band and asked if they all knew a particular song. They did, so we started to play _Sweet Home Alabama_. I even sang back-up. I knew the only way to get Leo to shut up, and everyone to get over his little outburst, was to play something with a beat. While I was singing, I noticed Amelia was still standing next to Mrs. Lucas, and she was staring at me with a blank face and her intense eyes. I think the little bitch was trying to intimidate me. Well I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. No one intimidates me. So I just stared right back. I just kept looking straight into her eyes. She kept it up during the next song too, and I'm not one to be out done, so I wouldn't break eye contact with her. When the song was over, I went back to get another drink. That's when Charlie found me.

"So what was that all about?" Charlie asked with a smile.

"What are you talking about?" I replied.

"What's up with the two of you?" Charlie gestured towards Amelia and continued, "You were staring at each other the entire time you were singing."

"Are you kidding me. She was probably trying to intimidate me. And the only reason I looked back, was because I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction," I said.

"It looked like you were singing only for her, and she seemed to enjoy it," Charlie said with a smirk.

"You're crazy. You need glasses," I said starting to get a little annoyed.

"Okay, what about when we were at the table," Charlie said with a smile.

"What about it?" I asked. What in the hell is he talking about?

"You made her laugh," he said simply.

"She was laughing at me, not with me," I remarked.

"No, she wasn't. She thought you were funny," Charlie replied.

"I wasn't trying to be funny, and nobody else laughed," I stated.

"I did, but you didn't see or hear me, because all your attention was focused on her. And I saw her listening to every word you said. She didn't pay attention to anybody else," Charlie said with a knowing smile.

"You're out of your mind," I stated simply.

Just then I heard Leo and Chris. I turned around and noticed they were playing some kind of drinking game with their dates, and were starting to get a little rowdy. People were starting to stare. One person in particular happened to be Amelia. Oh great! More reasons for her to look down on me. "I better do something about them," I told Charlie, while gesturing to Chris and Leo.

As I passed by Mrs. Lucas and Amelia, Mrs. Lucas stopped me by putting a hand on my shoulder and said, "You played beautifully Michael."

"Thanks," I replied, but she continued.

"Amelia here was just commenting about your skills," Mrs. Lucas remarked. Oh, really. Well this should be interesting.

"So what was Miss Darcy saying?" I asked Mrs. Lucas, but couldn't help but eye Amelia as I spoke.

"I said you were great. You are very talented," Amelia replied. She can't really mean that. She's probably just trying to act nice in front of Mrs. Lucas.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"I noticed neither of you has had a chance to dance yet. You should really go out there and have a good time. You'd make a lovely pair," Mrs. Lucas said while winking at me. Oh great! First my dad, and now Mrs. Lucas. What is so wrong with being single anyway?

"Well I was actually on my way to speak to my brothers," I said, "And I'm sure Amelia wouldn't want to dance with me anyway."

I was about to leave when Amelia spoke, "I'd be happy to dance with you. I mean . . . if you want to?"

Whoa! What is she doing? I just gave her the perfect out and now she wants to dance with me? Oh, I get it. She's just agreeing because of Mrs. Lucas.

"Well I'm not a good dancer, and I really have to go talk to my brothers. Please excuse me," I said.

I made my way over to Chris and Leo and didn't look back. I was finally able to convince them to take their dates and their drinking game outside. Besides, the fireworks would start in a little while anyway. As we were waiting outside, people slowly started to flood out of the house. Two of those being Carl and Amelia. I noticed that Carl was shadowing her, and she was trying to dodge him at every turn. I found it amusing at first, but then I found it just plain, old pathetic. Carl could not just take a hint. He was an embarrassment to males everywhere. Carl would try to put his arm around her, or his hand on the small of her back, and she would step forward or to the side to dodge him. It looked like he thought it was a game, like she was actually flirting with him. He would smile every time she did it. What he didn't seem to realize was that she wasn't shivering with anticipation of his touch. It was more along the lines of revulsion.

When the fireworks started, I was standing a couple of feet away from John and Katie. I was looking up as the dark sky was being painted with color. I heard a sigh and looked down to see Amelia was standing in between John and I. She had finally ditched Carl, and was gazing up at the lights with a slight smile. I think this is the first time I have ever seen her content. I wouldn't go so far as to say happy, but she looked to be at peace. I turned back up to finish watching the fireworks light up the sky.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter Three**_

It was the middle of August, and Katie invited John and me to spend a couple of days at her parents' beach house. I really didn't want to go because I knew Katie's brothers would be there, along with Heidi and Amelia. But, John asked me to go, and I can't say no to him.

Everyone, except Amelia, was set to leave for the beach house on Friday afternoon. Apparently she had to stay until she got off of work at six. She had planned to drive up by herself, however, no one had informed Carl until we were about to leave.

"We can't let Amy drive up by herself at night," Carl protested.

"Carl, Amy is an adult who helps run a multimillion dollar company. I am sure she is quite capable of driving at night," Katie argued.

"No, absolutely not. You all go. I'll go to Amy's work and wait for her to finish. I'm sure she'll be happy that I stayed to keep her company," he proclaimed.

It was evident that Katie had already assumed Carl would insist on riding with Amelia, and that was why she didn't tell him about their plans. Heck, that's probably the reason Amelia chose to drive up by herself, so she wouldn't be stuck in a car with him for several hours. But if Carl stayed behind to drive up with Amelia, that meant that I didn't have to be stuck in a car with him for several hours. In that case, Go Carl! Pretend to be chivalrous and stay behind. That's exactly what he did, despite all of Katie's protests.

Therefore the drive to the beach was pleasant, with no Carl and no Amelia. The beach house had four bedrooms and a patio that led to the ocean. We decided to have fast food for dinner, and I turned in before Carl and Amelia arrived. The next morning I got up and decided to go for a jog. When I left, everyone else was still asleep. I ran for a couple of miles and my shirt became drenched in sweat. When I got back, I took it off as I walked in through the patio doors. Everyone, except John, was standing around the kitchen counter making or eating their breakfast. Amelia had a cup of coffee in her hands and was staring at me. Her face was blank, and I had no idea what she was thinking. When I finally made eye contact with her, she quickly looked away. I can only guess the sight of me without my shirt on, covered in sweat, made her lose her appetite.

I excused myself and headed towards the shower. Later, as everyone gathered their things before heading out to the shore, I decided to walk out onto the patio and look at the ocean.

Amelia was outside with her back towards me. She was talking on her cell phone and didn't realize I was there. She wore a halter top and short shorts. A modest bathing suit if you asked me, but it accentuated her curvy figure and flat stomach perfectly. I stood there admiring the view her outfit provided while she continued her conversation.

"I want you to call the same plumber we used last time. I liked him. He seemed very knowledgeable and his rates were fair. Next I need you to call the carpenter we have on retainer. Have him go and examine the wall and the floor before the plumber starts his repairs. I want to make sure no damage was caused, because I don't want it to evolve into a bigger problem later on. That will affect the property's market value. Contact me if the carpenter reports any signs of damage, and / or, if the plumber says the repairs will be more than $500. Okay? Next call Harriet. Inform Miss Smith that I don't care what she says, there is no way a glass sliding door can accidentally shatter by itself. She can either replace it herself, or we can send someone, but she will be billed the costs of the repair. She shouldn't give you any trouble. She was just hoping that we would take care of it, no questions asked. Okay, that's everything. Call me if there are any more problems. Bye," she added.

"Problems at the office?" I asked.

She turned around and was slightly startled to see me standing there, listening to her conversation. "No, I was just . . . "

"Ready to go everyone?" Carl interrupted as he walked out onto the patio. He gave me a look like he foiled my plan to be alone with Amelia. Like I care. I didn't even know she was out there.

"I am," I said as I made my way towards the water.

When we got to the shore, everyone went into the water. John and I rented surfboards from a little stand not far from the house. While we were surfing, I could see Carl making every attempt to corner Amelia in the water. She wasn't having it. She took every opportunity to dodge him and stick to either Katie or Heidi's side. After an hour or so, John and I headed back to shore. Amelia said we both looked really good out there, when Carl commented that anyone could surf. I handed him the board and told him to knock himself out.

"I'd love for you to teach me a few pointers," I goaded.

I knew he was full of shit, and apparently so did Amelia, because she added, "Yeah Carl, show us all how it's really supposed to be done," with a huge grin on her face and a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Carl was not one to back down from a challenge. He grabbed my board and paddled out. Amelia and I laughed as he got wiped out, wave after wave. I don't think he ever stood on the board longer than two seconds before falling. When he finally came back to shore, he made some lame excuse about not being used to handling a board this length, before handing me the board and walking off in a huff.

Later we were all sitting on the beach, drying off in the sun. Everyone was quiet and lost in their own thoughts. I turned and noticed that Amelia's wet, straight, hair had transformed into big, beautiful curls. She looked amazing. The sun shining down on her accentuated the natural highlights in her hair. Carl noticed that I was gazing at Amelia and asked if there was a problem. She looked up and turned her attention to me, waiting for my reply.

"No problem," I said, "I just noticed Amelia's hair became curly."

"Oh, yeah," she replied, "It does that every time it gets wet."

"So you straighten your hair?" I asked.

"Yeah," was her only reply.

"Why?" I asked. I couldn't help myself. Why did she straighten her curls, when they made her look even more beautiful?

"Because the first time I straightened my hair, I got so many compliments that I just kept on doing it," she explained.

"Well I think you look beautiful no matter what your hair looks like," Carl jumped in, not liking that our conversation didn't include him.

Amelia muttered a thanks, but I wasn't going to let Carl get away that easily. "So Carl, would you still consider Amelia beautiful if she shaved her head, dyed her hair blue or got a mohawk?" I asked with a smile.

"Well . . . I . . . uh . . . " was the only response I could get out of Carl as Amelia smiled, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," I said with a triumphant smirk on my face.

"So you think someone's true beauty can only be measured by what you see on the outside?" Amelia asked in all seriousness.

"No. A girl can look gorgeous on the outside, but be a total bitch on the inside. I wouldn't use the word beautiful to describe someone like that," I replied.

"What would someone have to have on the inside, for you to consider them beautiful?" she asked.

"I don't know. I never really thought about it," I admitted.

"Oh that's easy," Carl piped in, "they should be caring, considerate, loving, and self-sacrificing. Just like Amy here."

I know Carl was desperate to land Amelia, but talk about laying it on thick!

"That doesn't sound like a person," I remarked, "that sounds like a saint."

"Oh believe me, I'm no saint," Amelia said with a shake of her head.

"How can you say that?" Carl asked. "I've never met anyone as giving as you."

I scoffed before Amelia replied, "You make me sound like I'm perfect."

"You are perfect," Carl proclaimed, trying to act flirtatious.

"Surely Miss Darcy must have some flaws?" I said. "Come on. Tell us what they are."

"You want me to give you a laundry list of all my imperfections? I don't think so," she said.

"Why? Afraid we'll knock you off your pedestal, if we find out you drink milk right out of the carton?" I asked with a smile.

"No. I just don't go around cataloging my faults," she replied.

"Okay. You tell me one of your faults, and I'll tell you one of mine," I don't really know why I was pushing this. I guess I just wanted her to admit she wasn't perfect. That she couldn't look down upon us mere mortals because she was human too.

"Let me guess, you're too tenacious for your own good?" she asked, starting to get annoyed.

"And you like to impress people by using big words," I said plainly.

She stared at me for a moment, lost in her own thoughts. I had no idea what she was thinking. Finally, she said, "Alright, fine. I have no problem walking away and never looking back."

"Walking away from what?" I asked.

"Walking away from bad jobs, bad situations, bad friendships. I think life is too short to waste your time salvaging something that is not worth the trouble," she said in all seriousness.

"So if you got in an argument with a friend, you would have no problem walking away and never speaking to them again?" I asked, wanting to understand what she meant.

"Well, yes. If I thought this is someone I will continue to have misunderstandings with, what's the point of working things out? Let them hate me for the rest of my life. I don't care. Life is too short to waste trying to resolve problems that are just not worth the effort," she said as a matter of fact.

What could I say to that? Being able to just turn your back on someone was not a good trait for someone to have. She knew this or she wouldn't have brought it up as one of her faults. She was obviously not proud about this aspect of her personality, because she could have said something else. I half expected her to say something vain, like she only buys designer shoes that cost $500.00. I never expected an answer like this.

When she realized that I had nothing to say to her confession, she returned to what she was doing. Carl, annoyed that I had taken Amelia's attention away from him, tried to drum up a conversation.

"So Amy, what are you doing?" he asked.

Annoyed that he was asking her a stupid question, she replied, "I'm writing a postcard to my brother. Why? What does it look like I'm doing?"

I smirked to myself. That's what Carl gets for asking stupid questions.

Carl, ignoring Amelia's sarcasm, continued, "That's sweet of you, always thinking of others. Do you like writing postcards?"

Annoyed that Carl still would not take a hint, Amelia replied, "No, I've never written a postcard before in my life."

I had to stop myself from laughing by pretending to cough instead. Amelia realized I was trying to cover up my laughter and smiled. Carl noticed too and glared at me before continuing his stupid line of questioning.

"So why have you chosen to start now?" he asked.

"Guilt," she replied.

"What is it that you have to feel guilty about?" he asked.

Amelia sighed and said, "My brother always sends me postcards when he's on vacation. All I ever do is call. He's sent me postcards from Alaska, Chicago, Yellowstone, Hawaii, Disney World, even the Grand Canyon. The least I could do is send him one from the beach."

"And how is our hometown hero?" Carl asked.

"He's fine," she answered.

"How's Danny?" Carl continued.

"Still absolutely perfect," she said with a smile.

This was the first time I'd ever seen Amelia light up at the mention of someone's name. Whoever this Danny was, it was obvious that she loved him. It wasn't long after that when everyone collected their things and called it a day.

Later that night, John and Katie decided to take a romantic stroll along the beach. Carl, Louis and Heidi decided to play cards. They let Heidi choose the game, and she decided to play Hearts. I didn't want to play, and I didn't want to see Carl fawning over Amy, so I chose to watch TV instead. I sat down on the couch and picked up the remote. A couple of seconds later, Amelia came and joined me at the other end of the couch.

Oh great! I wasn't really in the mood to watch some chick flick, or reruns of _Sex and the City_. But I knew I should be polite and ask her what she wanted to watch.

"Oh, I don't care. I hardly ever watch television," she said.

That's just fabulous. She's obviously one of those people that believes TV will rot the brain. It figures. She looks like the type that would look down on Neanderthals, such as myself, who choose to watch wrestling instead of reading the _Wall Street Journal_.

"So, you don't like playing cards?" I asked, trying to figure out why she chose to watch TV with me.

"Yeah I do," she answered simply.

"Then why are you sitting over here? Why aren't you playing cards with them?" I asked, trying to hide my annoyance.

"It's not fair to them if I play," she stated.

"Why, because you're so much better than everybody else?" I asked, trying to control my anger. Man, she was arrogant!

"No. It's because I cheat," she said simply.

"What!?" I asked in disbelief.

"I cheat. When I play Hearts, I cheat. I just can't help myself. It's so easy to do," she said honestly.

I couldn't believe my ears. Well at least she was being honest. She felt it was wrong to play because she knew she couldn't stop herself from cheating. Most people would probably just cheat and not give it a second thought. I honestly didn't know what to make of this woman. The moment I know I have her pegged, she turns around and says something that surprises me. Then I am left in complete and total confusion. Who is Amelia Darcy?

* * *

The next morning, I woke up and went into the kitchen. I found Amelia already up working on her laptop, drinking a cup of coffee. "Good morning," I said as I poured myself a cup.

"Good morning," she replied as she continued to type on her laptop.

That's when Carl came in, "Good morning all, what a lovely day."

He then walked over to Amelia, "I see you're off to an early start. What are you doing?"

"I'm looking up porn," Amelia said dryly.

I nearly spit out my coffee. I couldn't believe she had just said that. They both looked up at me while I was coughing, because I had swallowed my coffee awkwardly to keep myself from spitting it out, and was now trying to regain my composure. The corners of Amelia's mouth turned up as she said, "I'm just checking my email," while looking me directly in the eyes.

She had been joking. "Amy, you shouldn't say such scandalous things. People might actually believe you," Carl said with a smirk, obviously delighted that I had made a fool of myself.

The rest of the day was pretty much the same as the day before. John and Katie lost in their own world, Louis and Heidi keeping to themselves, and Amelia trying to dodge Carl at every turn. That night I couldn't sleep, so I got up to get a glass of water. As I walked down the hall, I heard music playing. When I got to the living room, I found Amelia sitting on the recliner with her eyes closed, listening to the stereo. I couldn't tell if she was asleep or not. She wore a simple white nightgown that cut off right above her knees. It had light blue lace woven in the white cotton fabric, along the straps and around the neckline. It almost looked like a summer dress. It also had four buttons going down the center. It was modest, yet she looked breathtaking. She looked so peaceful. Who knows how long I could have stood there, staring at her.

All of a sudden the song ended and she opened her eyes. She was a little startled to find me standing there, but a moment later, her features relaxed.

"I'm sorry. Did the music wake you?" she asked.

"No, I couldn't sleep so I came to get something to drink," I answered.

"Oh, I couldn't sleep either. I'm an insomniac, so I never go to bed this early. I usually read at night, but instead of making me sleepy, it usually makes me more alert," she admitted.

"How's that?" I wondered.

"Well, if it's a really good book, I usually can't put it down. I keep telling myself I'll only read one more chapter and then I'll go to bed, but that never happens. I end up staying up until I've finished it completely," she replied.

"Why don't you just watch late night TV instead?" I asked.

"Laughing at jokes doesn't really make me sleepy. If anything, it keeps me awake. When I want to go to sleep but can't, I listen to music," she answered.

"So what are you listening to?" I asked.

"The _Phantom of the Opera_ soundtrack," she said.

Oh great, an opera buff! Figures. I knew we wouldn't have anything in common. She probably has season tickets to the ballet too.

"So . . . you like opera?" I continued.

"Do I like opera? That's like asking if I like movies. There are good movies and there are bad movies. There are good operas, there are bad operas, and there are operas I would never see again, but don't regret having seen in the first place," she replied.

"If you would never want to see it again, then obviously it wasn't entertaining. If it wasn't entertaining, why wouldn't you regret having had to sit through it in the first place?" I asked as I walked over and sat on the couch.

"I might not have found it entertaining, but it doesn't mean I didn't learn something from it," she said.

"How so?" I asked.

"Well it's kind of like reading Tolstoy," she said.

Tolstoy! You've got to be kidding me. Like I would ever read that! I would be bored out of my mind. But I wasn't about to give her the satisfaction of admitting it.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, trying not to sound ignorant.

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily call his work entertaining. It's more along the lines of intriguing. You want to know what is going to happen next. And in the end you get the message behind it all. You learn something from the story, but it doesn't mean you want to sit through it again. Do you know what I mean?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess I do. It's like sitting through a class with a boring teacher, and you can't wait for the class to be over. But in the end, you did learn something. The ultimate difference is how the teacher presented the material. That's what makes you look forward to a class or dread a class," I stated.

She sat there, staring at me for a moment. I couldn't read the expression on her face. I had absolutely no idea what she was thinking. She probably thought my ideas were too simplistic. She finally said, "Yeah, that's exactly what I mean."

That's when Carl walked in. "So what's going on here?" he asked while glaring at me.

Amelia rolled her eyes and said, "I couldn't sleep, so I was just listening to some music," obviously annoyed that she should have to explain herself to him.

"You know if you can't sleep, I can always sing you a lullaby," Carl said with a huge grin on his face and a wink at the end.

Amelia just rolled her eyes again and said, "Yeah right, Carl." She then got up, turned off the stereo and headed towards her room. "Well I'm going to bed. It was nice talking to you Michael," she said while looking at me. She then grumbled, "Goodnight, Carl," while walking past him, not even bothering to turn her head to acknowledge him.

Carl didn't even notice. He was too busy admiring Amelia's retreating figure. Then he called out, "Remember not to lock your bedroom door. I walk in my sleep, and they say the worst thing you could do is try to detour a sleepwalker from their destination."

Amelia turned when she got to the end of the hallway and said, "If that's the case, I'll be sure to leave the front and back door wide open for you. I wouldn't want to stop you from walking into the ocean while sleepwalking. Anything for your well-being." With that, she went into her room and locked the door. I couldn't stop myself from laughing as Carl turned to glare at me. He then retreated back to his room while I went to get a glass of water.

* * *

It was our final night at the beach and everyone, except for Amelia, was watching TV in the living room. She then walked in with a bottled water. The only seats available were in between Carl and Louis on the couch, or next to me on a small sofa. Carl patted the empty space next to him with his hand, but Amelia chose to sit next to me instead. Carl was visibly angry by her choice, and decided to take it out on me.

"So Mike, do you have a girlfriend?" Carl asked.

"No," I replied.

"I would imagine it would be hard to find a girl, considering your profession, of course," Carl remarked.

"Oh, and why is that?" I asked. I knew he was going to try to put me down, but I wasn't going to let him get away with it.

"Not that many women find a man covered in grease appealing," Carl commented.

I was about to let him have it when Amelia piped in, "And how are you able to keep your hands and clothes spotless, while working on your car?" she asked Carl.

Carl was surprised by her question, but he answered it with what he thought was the right answer, "I take my car to the dealer to have it repaired."

"So you don't know how to repair an engine?" Amelia asked.

"No, they didn't teach that in law school," Carl remarked triumphantly.

I was going to jump in when Amelia continued.

"I am sure with your extensive education, you have learned that knowledge is power," Amelia stated.

Okay, I don't think I like where she's going with this. Is she just trying to find a way to put me down too?

"Absolutely," Carl replied with a smile.

"Did you ever take economics?" Amelia asked.

"Well of course I did," Carl replied.

"Good, then you should have learned that time equals money. And a mechanic's time is very valuable. Since you don't know how to repair your own car, if you were ever stuck in a tight jam, Michael here could charge you whatever he wanted. Because knowledge equals power and he knows things that you don't. So you would be at his mercy," Amelia finished.

Everyone had stopped watching the TV and were quiet, especially Carl. I think he was actually in a state of shock. So was I. I never expected her to defend me. In fact, I don't want or need her to.

"Soooo Amelia, do you do the repairs on your car?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"No," she answered simply.

"So you're at the mercy of a mechanic as well," I remarked. Oh the irony of it all.

"Yes, I'm very much aware of the fact that I'm at the mercy of a mechanic," Amelia replied as she looked directly into my eyes, trying to hide the small smile playing on her lips.

Okay, maybe Amelia Darcy is not that bad.


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter Four**_

So it finally happened. After three months of dating, John popped the question. John and Katie are getting married! My dad's dream has finally come true. He's now that much closer to becoming a grandfather. He was ecstatic. Mom cried a little since one of her babies was getting married.

Matt asked John if he didn't think that he was moving too fast? He's only known Katie for three months. John's only reply was, when you find the right person, you just know it's right, and you can't wait to start your lives together. John and Katie want a big wedding, and have decided to get married a year to the day from when they met. Katie says that will give her enough time to plan the wedding of her dreams. But right now, they've just started planning their engagement party.

I'm really happy for them. I can't say the same for myself, however. A couple of weeks ago, my mom got a call from an old friend of hers. Apparently her daughter, Colleen Collins, just moved to Meryton and doesn't know anybody in the area. She was hoping my mom would be nice enough to invite her over to introduce her to our family. My mom then asked me if I would be nice enough to show her around. I said sure, why not? I wouldn't mind meeting a single girl my age.

Big mistake on my part. I mean huge, catastrophic! This Colleen girl never shuts up! I mean, I've complained in the past about girls that couldn't carry a decent conversation, but this is ridiculous! First she goes on and on and on about her new job, and how rich her boss is. Then she proceeds to go into great detail about everything her boss owns and how much it costs. Why should I care? Why should she even care? It doesn't even belong to her!

Anyway, she's been calling non-stop since I met her. I truly thank whoever it was that invented caller ID, because Colleen is like a stalker! You would think the fact that I haven't returned any of her calls would give her a clue that I wasn't interested.

At least I have plans today. Now I don't have to be at home listening to the phone ring every hour, on the hour. John, Katie and I are going to my parents' house for lunch.

As we walked through the front door of my parents' house, my mom quickly came up to me and said, "Mike, you'll never guess who stopped by," with a weak smile, and a weary look in her eyes.

"Who, Mom?" I asked, as I suddenly heard a voice behind me. "Hello Michael."

Oh no! It can't be! I turned to find Colleen with a big smile plastered on her face. Damn it! Not again! Ugh!

"Hi Colleen," I muttered.

"I knew I'd find you here. I know how busy you've been lately. So I figured you'd be too tired to drive to Meryton to see me. So I came to you, aren't you surprised?" she asked, cheerfully.

"Yeah," I remarked dryly, "I can't even find the right words to express how surprised I am to see you here." Now that's a lie. I know exactly what words to use. They all contain four letters and would earn me a smack upside the head from my mom. Therefore, I will refrain from voicing my true feelings.

"I knew you'd be happy to see me," Colleen replied as we all went into the living room.

Colleen proceeded to tell us all about her week, including all the boring details about her job and her boss.

"So, Katie, how are all the details for the party coming along?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't know. Amy is taking care of everything. She won't let me lift a finger to help because she says it's my engagement party, so I should just enjoy it. She wants me to leave all the worries to her," Katie said with a huge smile on her face.

"So, is that why we haven't seen Amelia around lately, because she's too busy planning your party?" Not that I actually cared. Maybe I was just a little curious as to why we hadn't seen her since our trip.

"Actually, her company sent her as a representative to an out of town convention this past week. She should be returning tomorrow night."

With that bit of information, Colleen perked up, "Did you say Amelia? As in Amelia Darcy?"

"Yes," Katie answered. "Why? Do you know her?"

"No, I've never actually had the privilege of meeting her. However, I have heard much of her. She's the niece of my boss, Catherine DeBourg," Colleen said with far too much enthusiasm.

At that point, Mom came into the living room and asked John to start the fire outside to cook the steaks. Before I had a chance to volunteer, Katie jumped to her feet and offered to help. This left me with the agonizing task of keeping Colleen company.

"So you know Miss Darcy. Tell me, what's she like?" she asked.

"Ummm . . . " what is Amelia like? I wasn't sure how to answer that question. She wasn't like most of the girls I knew. She didn't agree with everything I said. She didn't talk incessantly like the girl who was asking me this question in the first place.

Amelia was sarcastic. She knew how to handle herself. She could put Carl in his place in an instant. Yet, we had nothing in common. We lived completely different types of lives. So how do I describe Amelia Darcy?

"Uhhh . . . Amelia is smart and uhhhh . . . pretty. She likes to read and uh, listens to opera," yeah, that should be good enough.

"Oh," Colleen said, sounding a little disappointed. "I already knew all that. Except for her liking opera, her aunt never told me that. Anyway, I know her aunt eagerly awaits her return."

"Why? She misses her that much, or was the outcome of her business trip really important?" I asked.

"Both I guess. But mostly Mrs. DeBourg wants to know how things have progressed between Miss Darcy and her future husband."

What!? Amelia's engaged!? I can't believe this! No! It can't be true! This whole time she was engaged and she never said a word! Carl hit on her constantly, and the whole time she had a fiancé. No! No! No! For some reason, I felt . . . disappointed. Like I had lost my chance at something . . . possibly . . . great. No. That can't be right. Why should I feel disappointed? It was just Amelia, and I didn't even really like her. She's stuck up. Right? I mean it's not like I have fun when she's around. She always seems so serious, well, most of the time anyway. She hardly ever laughs or smiles. I could never be happy with someone like that. So why am I getting so upset over nothing?

"Michael, are you all right?" Colleen asked, snapping me back into reality.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I was just surprised because Amelia never mentioned she was getting married," I remarked.

"Well, technically she's not engaged yet. But Mrs. DeBourg thinks it will happen any day now," Colleen said as a matter of fact.

"I see, and who's the lucky groom?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Andrew Slater, the son of DS industries co-founder, Shawn Slater, Mrs. DeBourg's business partner," Colleen supplied.

"Oh, so Mrs. DeBourg seems to think that he is going to propose this weekend?" I couldn't help but ask.

Colleen started to blush and looked guilty, "Well, actually, Mrs. DeBourg arranged for both of them to go as representatives for the company at the conference. She then had me tell them that they would be needed until Sunday. She had me buy them non-refundable, non-transferable plane tickets for Sunday afternoon. What they weren't told was that the conference was to end Friday afternoon. So most of the attendees went home last night. Mrs. DeBourg is hoping that this romantic weekend will help them decide that it's time for them to take the next step and make a commitment. After all, she says they've been seeing each other for years."

Whoa! Amelia has been with this guy for years and never said a word! Katie's never even mentioned him!

"So what's Andrew like?" I couldn't help but wonder.

"Oh, I've never met him. I just know that he is Mr. Slater's son and he joined the company 15 years ago. And he replaced his father as CEO five years ago," Colleen replied.

"Wait a second. He's been with the company for 15 years?" I asked incredulously, as Colleen nodded in response.

"How old is this guy?" I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

"Well, I'm not sure exactly, but I think he started working there after receiving his MBA. So he was probably 24 at the time. Now add 15 years, it makes him 39 or 40, give or take a year," Colleen replied.

Forty! Katie is 26. Therefore Amelia is most likely 26. So Amelia is going to marry a guy that is 14 years older than her!

I wonder if she's marrying him for his money? I know Amelia is already rich, but rich people like to combine their fortunes.

I spent the rest of the day thinking about all the things I had learned. I guess I really don't know anything about Amelia Darcy after all.


	6. Chapter 5

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

**Thanks for your reviews. I hope you like it. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Chapter 5**

Well tonight is John and Katie's engagement party. Since it is a special occasion, I went out and bought myself a new suit. I can't wait to see what girls will be at the party tonight. I think this suit makes me look good, if I do say so myself. Not that I'm trying to impress anyone. It's just been a long time since I've had a reason to wear one, that's all. I walked into the banquet hall and it was already filled with people. Yeah, I know, I should really start using all those watches they gave me for my birthday. Anyway, I spotted Charlie and we got ourselves some food from the buffet. Matt's band was playing and half the room had already finished eating. The dance floor was already filled with couples. Once Charlie and I finished eating, I noticed Amelia was across the room talking to Heidi. She was wearing a sky blue, strapless dress with a flowing skirt. Her hair wasn't straight tonight, but it wasn't as curly as it was at the beach either. It looked like she had brushed out some of the curls, so it was more like a wave. I took a sharp intake of breath when I saw her. I mean I don't like her, but she is amazing to look at.

I guess that is why I felt the way I did when I heard she was engaged. It's one of the world's great ironies. You see the woman of your dreams, and you are mesmerized. Then she opens her mouth, and your dream is shot to hell. If only she had a completely different personality. But that's life I guess. You just can't have it all. If you're rich and beautiful, like she is, then she has to be a stuck up snob. Life just wouldn't be fair otherwise.

Charlie and I decided to go get another drink when I was cornered by the last person I wanted to see. Oh no! Not again!

"Colleen, what are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

"Katie invited me. She's so nice isn't she," Colleen said with a smile.

"Yeah," a little too nice. Now Colleen will be stuck to my side all night. There goes my chance at meeting some nice women.

Colleen was looking at Charlie, when I realized she wanted to be introduced. "Colleen, this is my best friend Charlie Lucas. Charlie, this is Colleen Collins," I said.

They shook hands and then Colleen asked me to dance. I begrudgingly said yes, and we headed toward the dance floor. It was obvious that Colleen had never gotten the memo that the male is supposed to lead. That was evident when she kept stepping on my toes. We were able to capture Amelia's attention when I winced, after Colleen accidently stuck the heel of her shoe in my foot. I could see a smile creep on Amelia's face at my discomfort. When the song ended, Colleen wanted to continue, but I told her that I had to take a breather so I was sitting this one out.

"Well then, I'm going to go powder my nose. I'll be right back. Don't miss me too much," Colleen added.

"Oh, I won't," I muttered under my breath.

Ten minutes after Colleen left, Amelia came up to me with a hint of a smile on her face. She said hello and I managed a hi.

"Your date seems really . . . sweet," Amelia said as she tried to hide her smile. She obviously wanted to make fun of me.

"She not my date," I said trying to hold back my anger.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes, really. She won't leave me alone," I said in frustration. That is when I saw Colleen approaching us.

Amelia said, "Well if that's the case, don't worry, I'll take care of it." I was confused. What was she planning to do, and why would she help me?

As Colleen approached, Amelia extended her hand and started talking, "Hi, I hate to do this to you, but I have to steal the best man."

Colleen shook Amelia's hand and looked a little alarmed at her words. Amelia continued, "I know how it is. I hate it when people steal away my escorts too. But duty calls. John and Katie are only going to get married once. So I have to steal poor Michael away from you, so he can take care of his responsibilities. I'm sorry, I hope you understand. We both know he would rather be over here with you, then taking care of some party details."

Colleen features immediately softened upon Amelia's explanation. "No, I understand completely. I can imagine Michael ignoring his responsibilities to spend time with me. Men never seem to care about details and those type of things," Colleen replied.

Oh, Amelia was good. "Yeah, I have to go. It's not fair to John and Katie if I ignore my duties. I'll see you later," I said as I grabbed Amelia's elbow and we retreated before Colleen could say anything else.

When we were safely across the room and out of Colleen's sight, we finally relaxed. "Okay. If she finds us again, we'll pretend that we have been discussing what we should say for the toast. And we'll use that as an excuse to escape again. That we have to alert the waiters to get the champagne ready, and alert the band," Amelia suggested.

"That sounds great, but why did you do it?" I asked.

"Why did I do what?" Amelia replied.

"Why did you just save me from Colleen?" I asked.

"Well . . . lets just say that there have been many times in my life that I wished there was someone there to save me," she replied in all honesty. I knew exactly what she meant. I had witnessed it first hand every time Carl hit on her.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"Your welcome," she replied. We stood there for a while as we watched John and Katie dance. They looked so happy. They both just kept on laughing at whatever private jokes they were telling each other. It made me really envious. I wanted that. I wanted what they had found together. Then I heard Amelia mumble, "Oh great, here comes Carl."

I looked to the side and saw Carl was heading our way. I was really not in the mood to have to put up with him. Well, since Amelia saved me from Colleen, I should probably return the favor. After all, I didn't want to have to owe her anything.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked Amelia.

She seemed to be a little surprised by my suggestion, but she said, "Sure," with a smile on her face. She was obviously thrilled at the thought of avoiding Carl. I grabbed her hand, a little taken a back at how nicely it fit in my own, and guided her to the dance floor. The moment I held her in my arms, my senses were hit with a delicate, sweet smell. No body can naturally smell like that, it must be her perfume. I started to feel awkward. I didn't like what I was feeling. I didn't like how her body seemed to fit perfectly in my arms, like if she belonged there. I didn't like being physically attracted to a woman who isn't worth my time. She's a snob, who is consumed by her work and engaged. I will not let her beauty blind me to who she really is.

"So this is a really nice party. You did a really great job planning it," I remarked.

"Thanks. I've been really worried about it actually. I've been so busy the last couple of weeks that I had to do practically everything over the phone, and through emails. I was really scared how everything was going to turn out," she confessed.

"So work has been really crazy lately?" I asked.

"Uh, same as usual I guess," she replied.

"So then you must really work a lot then huh?" I commented.

"Um, I guess you can say that it keeps me occupied," she remarked.

"So how many hours a week do you work then?" I was anxious to find out.

"I don't know. I'm the CFO, so I don't punch in a timecard," she stated.

"Come on, you really must have some idea how much time you spend at work or working," I prodded.

"Why are you so interested?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No reason. Just trying to figure you out, and get to know you a little better, that's all," I replied.

She looked at me, probably trying to figure out if I was really sincere or not.

She finally replied, "Well, I really have no set schedule. Everyday is different based on appointments and meetings. The hours I work depend on what time my meetings might be scheduled."

"Must be really hard to find time for you and your fiancé to spend together huh?" I remarked.

"What?" she asked with her mouth hanging open and a confused look on her face.

"Well you seem to be here alone, so he probably didn't have time to fit it into his schedule right?" I commented.

"I'm not getting married," she said with the same confused look on her face.

"Right, I'm sorry. Boyfriend then. But you must have obviously worked something out, sense you two have been together for years," I remarked, trying to keep my voice casual. I know I had no real reason to be angry, but I just thought it was wrong of her never to mention she had a boyfriend.

By now we had both stopped dancing, and we were just looking at each other. Good thing the music stopped, or people might have thought we looked odd.

"Who told you I had a boyfriend?" she asked with that same confused look on her face. Obviously she was upset that someone revealed her secret. I'm not sure why it would upset her, unless she didn't want anyone to know. Maybe she was still trying to keep her options open. Seeing if something better came along.

The music started again, and before I had a chance to answer her question, Carl came along and asked her to dance. She was about to answer him when I said, "Fine. Go ahead. She's all yours." Then I turned on my heel and walked off the dance floor. I was walking toward the bathroom when I saw Chris and Leo walking in the front door carrying a keg. Oh my . . . . . . . I was speechless. Their dates, Denise and Sandra, were being ever so helpful by opening the doors for them. I went up to them.

"What do you two think you are doing?" I asked trying not to shout. I didn't want to get even more people's attention on us.

"Do you know they are only serving wine, champagne and some kind of cocktail drink at this party?" Chris commented.

"So your solution to that is to go out and buy a keg? You idiots, this is not another one of your stupid frat parties!" I said trying to control my anger.

"Our frat parties aren't stupid! And this was the only thing this party was missing," Leo stated.

"Where'd you get that thing anyway? Do you always carry one around with you in case of emergencies? Or is there a Kegs-R-Us that I don't know about?" I asked not believing what they had done.

That is when my dad walked up, to give me the support I've come to expect.

"Oh good, you boys are here. Hurry go set it up in that corner. I want a glass," my dad said.

I turned around to see half the room staring at us. I was completely mortified.

"Dad you can't just set up a keg in here," I pleaded with him.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Um, because it doesn't look right," I stated.

"Oh, no body cares. We're all here to have a good time. Lighten up," he told me.

I just shook my head. I couldn't believe what they were doing. I looked up at Matt on stage, and I could tell he was just as embarrassed as I was. So he decided to take matters into his own hands. He grabbed the microphone and said he wanted to dedicate the next song to John and Katie. Yeah, I know, a cute sentiment right. And a good way to try to divert attention away from our father and younger brothers. It did work. But I don't think it played out the way he wanted it to. If only Matt had not chosen to sing the song himself. Matt is a good guitar player, but he can't sing to save his life. I think he has a dream that girls will one day adore him for his voice, but that's never going to happen. He just doesn't have the skill. So when he started to belt out _I Will Always Love You_, I just put my head in my hands, and wished that my life would be over. What a night!


	7. Chapter 6

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Author's Notes: Thanks so much for the reviews. **

**In reference to Mike falling for Amelia too soon, I guess I did a bad job at describing what Mike meant. I wasn't trying to imply that he was falling in love with her. Only that he was physically attracted to her. He still thinks she has the perfect body. But, he still hates her personality and attitude. So if anything, the fact that he is physically attracted to her is what gets his feelings confused at times. I can't help but think someone's feelings would get confused, if they had to be around someone they found attractive, but didn't like.**

**What I was trying to portray is what I've seen in some TV shows and movies. Like when two people hate each other, but it doesn't seem to stop the guy from checking the girl out. Every time I've seen that on screen I've found it funny. How one minute a girl and guy can be arguing, and the next he can be checking out her butt as she leaves. Sometimes the guy does it just because he's a guy who might admire any pretty girl, no matter what their personality. Other times it is clearly because of sexual tension between the two characters. Either way, that is what I was trying to imply. But I obviously didn't do a very good job if I confused some of you. Sorry. **

**So Mike hates who she is, but there is no harm in checking her out, or admiring her body. As you can see, this chapter is long since some of you have mentioned that you liked long chapters. Just so you know, most of the answers to the questions you might form after reading this chapter, will be answered in the next. I hope you enjoy it. **

**Chapter 6**

"You're dating Colleen!?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I got to know her at John and Katie's engagement party. I think she's nice," Charlie responded.

"Are you out of your mind!?" I replied.

"What? We can't all be as picky as you are. She may not be your type, but she might be mine. No body's perfect. You're not perfect. If you don't realize that soon, you'll be spending the rest of your life alone," Charlie commented.

"I never said I wanted someone who was perfect," I remarked.

"I think that is why you're still single, because you don't realize that we're all human. We might make a bad first impression, or ramble at times. But there is more to us. I don't think you have ever given any girl a real chance. Once you find something wrong with her, you automatically say she's not the girl for you. Well I'm giving Colleen and me a chance," Charlie stated.

"Okay, well, good luck then," I told him.

"Thanks, but I have a favor to ask you," Charlie replied.

"Okay, what is it?" I asked.

"Colleen's boss is eager to meet me, since Colleen has told her we are dating. So she has invited me to spend Columbus Day weekend at Rosings Park," Charlie said plainly.

"Rosings Park? What's that?" I asked.

"It's Catherine DeBourg's country estate in Kent," Charlie replied.

"She named her house?" I asked incredulously.

"Apparently. Anyway do you want to come?" he continued.

"Why are you inviting me? You're the one she wants to meet?" I asked.

"I know, but it seems they have some work to do that weekend. And Mrs. DeBourg said I should invite someone to pass the time with, while they are busy. So will you go?" he asked.

"I don't know," I replied.

"Oh come on. The place is supposed to be amazing. Think of it as a free vacation," Charlie said encouragingly.

"Oh, all right," I agreed.

So a week later, there I was, driving Charlie to spend Columbus Day weekend at Rosings Park. When we pulled up to the gate, I had to admit I was impressed. The place was huge. I had never seen anything like it. All of a sudden I had a feeling I wasn't going to fit in. Colleen met us at the door and showed us to our rooms. I was in awe the entire time. The place looked and felt more like a museum than a home. Once we were settled, she brought us down to the sitting room to meet her boss, Catherine DeBourg.

I have to say the woman was intimidating. She looked us up and down the moment we stepped into the room. Fortunately for me, Charlie was the target of her interrogation. I just sat there and watched him squirm in his seat. I wanted to help him out. Really I did, but what was I going to say. Plus I didn't want her to aim her questions at me. Then a maid walked in and announced that Mrs. DeBourg's other guests had arrived. Other guests? I didn't know there were going to be other guests. Moments later, in walked a man in a finely tailored suit. He was about six feet tall, black hair, brown eyes and had a muscular build that filled out the suit. He was tan, and looked to be around forty years old. I wouldn't call him handsome or good-looking, but he definitely wasn't plain or ugly. The only word I could use to describe him was rugged. I might have described him as good-looking, if it wasn't for the grim look on his face. He seemed so serious. His face showed no emotion. Come to think about it, he was there to see Catherine DeBourg so who could blame him.

The man was followed by a tall, slender woman, around thirty years old. She had curly black hair that stopped at her shoulder. She wore a simple purple dress with a black belt. She had a smile on her face. That was something that I hadn't seen on anyone since I entered the house.

Right behind her was the last person I expected to see. It was Amelia, and I have to admit, she looked amazing. She wore a black turtle neck with short sleeves that hugged her curves. She wore a gray, form fitting skirt, that stopped right above her knees. And she had on these high heeled boots that went up her legs and stopped a couple of inches below the knee. I had no idea work clothes could look so sexy. She wore her hair straight and down as usual, but with a barrette securing some of it from getting in her face.

A huge smile actually appeared on Mrs. DeBourg's face as she stood to greet them. After giving them all what some might describe as a hug, and a peck on the cheek, she introduced them. "Mr. Lucas, Mr. Bennet, I would like you to meet Andrew Slater, my business associate. And my nieces Karina Fitzwilliam and Amelia Darcy. Amelia, Andrew and Karina this is Colleen's boyfriend Charlie Lucas and his friend, Michael Bennet."

At that point, the rest of us stood up to shake the newcomers' hands. That is when Amelia told her aunt that we had already met. Catherine seemed taken a back by this bit of information, but didn't say anything about it. Amelia extended her hand and said, "Hello Michael," with a small smile. After exchanging greetings, Catherine sat on an arm chair that bordered the two long couches that faced each other. Catherine told Amelia to sit at the corner of the couch that was closest to her. Andrew sat next to her, followed by Karina. On the other couch, Colleen sat on the corner closest to Catherine followed by Charlie and myself.

I couldn't help but stare at Amelia and the famous Andrew I had heard so much about. So this was the guy. Well at first glance I'd say they definitely suited each other. He was so serious and quiet. He only spoke when spoken to, and even then he was sure to make his response as short as possible. Yet with them sitting next to each other, the age difference was very apparent. Andrew looked older than he actually was. I'm not saying he looked bad, or that he had wrinkles or gray hair. But if I didn't know his real age, I could easily have guessed he was at least five years older than he really was. It was probably the grim look on his face that made him look older. Amelia on the other hand, looked good for her age. In fact, someone could easily mistake her for being younger than she really was. I hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, but apparently Mrs. DeBourg asked Amelia to go get something for her. She got up and excused herself, and I couldn't help but let my eyes admire her retreating figure. Big mistake! I mean huge! I heard someone clear their throat, and I turned my head back to see everyone's eyes on me. Karina sat across from me and I saw her pressing her lips together, trying to hold in her laughter. Mrs. DeBourg just scowled at me.

"So Mr. Bennet, how do you know my niece?" Mrs. DeBourg asked.

"Um, my brother John is marrying Amelia's best friend Katie," I replied.

"Ah, I see. And how well do you two know each other?" she asked glaring at me.

"Uh, not that well. I mean, we did spend a couple of nights together at the beach," I said as Mrs. DeBourg suddenly scowled, "As a group I mean," I amended.

I was saved by a maid who brought in a tray of refreshments, and Amelia returning with what appeared to be some type of business reports. Mrs. DeBourg and Andrew huddled around her discussing the reports in her hand. While the rest of us got up to choose from the snacks that had been laid out on a small table. Karina approached me with a smile on her face, "The famous Michael Bennet. Well, I have to say that I have heard a lot about you."

"Really? From who?" I asked, as Colleen walked by with a small plate in her hand. Of course! Colleen had to have been the one since she had a crush on me before, and she can't keep her mouth shut.

"Oh, I have my sources. It should be fun having you here this weekend, since they all have to work," she replied.

"Oh, so you don't work for DS Industries?" I asked.

"No, I only came because Amy begged me too. She always does when she has to come here," Karina replied.

"Why?" I asked.

"Entertainment value. Though it's not like we can actually be ourselves in this place," Karina remarked, "Aunt Catty wouldn't like how Amy and I choose to spend our free time."

"What, you get so wild and crazy that you forget to use a coaster," I said as we both started to laugh. Karina was really fun to be around. She was funny and easy to talk to. We talked for who knows how long. I liked her so much that I would have probably asked her out. However, during our conversation she happened to mention she had a boyfriend. Oh well, I was just happy that she made dinner that night bearable. We sat ourselves at the end of the table and pretty much ignored everybody else. When Mrs. DeBourg wasn't talking business with Amelia and Andrew, she was grilling poor Charlie. Fortunately for us, she was too preoccupied with them to interrupt our conversation.

After Mrs. DeBourg retired for the evening, I found myself in the study watching TV with Karina. She was flipping through the channels, trying to see if there was anything good on. We were sitting on the couch when Amelia walked in carrying a book. She went to return it to the bookshelf, and started looking at the other titles. While flipping through the channels, Karina had come across some game show. Neither of us had paid any attention to what question was asked, and Karina was about to change the channel, when Amelia yelled, "Agatha Christie," without taking her eyes off the bookshelf. We then turned and stared at her like she was nuts, when we heard the host of the game show say, "I'm sorry, the correct answer was Agatha Christie."

Karina and I just turned and looked at each other for second before focusing our attention back on the TV. The host then asked, "Name the author of _Mansfield Park_." Again Amelia yelled, "Jane Austen," without taking her eyes off the bookshelf. Again she was right. Then the host asked, "Name the creator of the _Star Wars_ trilogy." I yelled, "George Lucas," before anyone else had a chance, and I was right.

The host then asked, "Name the actor who portrayed _Indiana Jones_." Amelia and I both yelled, "Harrison Ford," at the same time. Karina turned to look at us with her eyebrows raised, but said nothing.

Then the host asked, "Who was the actor that portrayed the voice of Darth Vader." Again Amelia and I yelled out, "James Earl Jones," at the same. Karina turned and looked at us with a big smile on her face and said, "Oh this is getting good."

Half an hour later, the show was over and Amelia and I had to settle for a tie. I have to say she put up a good fight. I really didn't expect her to know some of those answers. For example, she knew Steven Tyler was the lead singer of _Aerosmith_, and she knew Tommy Lee was _Mötley Crüe_'s drummer. I have to say she surprised me.

"So did you think you were going to wipe the floor with me?" I asked her.

"No, I knew you would put up a good fight," Amelia replied.

I turned to Karina and said, "I think I did pretty good, considering your cousin lied to me."

"Oh really. So what did she lie about?" Karina asked.

"She told me that she really doesn't watch television," I said with a smirk, knowing I had caught her.

"I didn't lie about that. I watch very little televison," Amelia said seriously.

"Oh really? Care to tell me how someone who watches very little television, was able to get nearly every televison question right? Not to mention, you did get every single question in the teen drama category right. That included questions from shows like _Dawson's Creek_ to _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_," I replied.

"I said I watch very little televison. I never said that I didn't watch televison in the past. By the way, that _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ question was a lucky guess. I have heard people talk about the show before. And I heard them mention the name Spike," Amelia countered.

"So what your trying to tell me is that you just stopped watching TV cold turkey. One day you just got up and realized you were too good to be sitting around just staring at a box," I said not believing that she could have gotten so many questions right, and just stopped watching television all together.

"No! Do you really want to know why I stopped watching television?" she said exasperated.

"Yes!" I said.

"Okay! During my last semester of college I was completely overwhelmed. I was working about 24 hours a week and going to school full-time. I would leave my house at seven in the morning, and then I would come home at seven at night. By the time I got home I was exhausted, everyday was the same, I either went from school to work, or work to school. Once I got home, I would then make dinner and proceed to do my homework, research my papers, and finish my assigned readings. By the time I was done, it was usually two o'clock in the morning. So you see, I just didn't have the time to watch TV. Believe me, I would have rather watched TV than do all those other things," Amelia said annoyed.

"Fine," I said, "I understand that you didn't have the time then. But now I assume that you do have the time, so why don't you watch anymore?" I couldn't help but wonder.

"Oh well, after I graduated I immediately started a job that didn't allow me the opportunity to catch up on my television viewing habits. By the time that job ended, a few months later, all the shows I had watched were either no longer on the air, or the plots had progressed so much, that I no longer knew what was going on. And, at that point, I really didn't care because I hadn't seen the shows in so long. I had gotten out of the habit of watching. So I just started reading. After years of college, I had gotten used to spending several hours every week reading textbooks. That I was just craving to pick up a book out of force of habit. But now instead of textbooks, I read novels. And unlike watching a random television show that has been on for years, I am sure to get a beginning, middle and end of a story from a book," she finished.

Huh. I have nothing to say to that. Okay, maybe I was wrong about her. But just on this one issue. She probably doesn't look down on people for watching television. However, I know I am right about everything else. This has not changed anything. I still don't like Amelia Darcy.

The next day I was bored. Charlie and Colleen were off somewhere and I was sick of watching TV in the guest room. I decided to go downstairs. As I walked by the dining room, I noticed Amelia was sitting on one of the chairs typing on her laptop. Andrew sat next to her, reading some papers in front of him. All around the table were several neatly stacked piles of paper. Neither one of them saw me because neither one looked up from what they were doing. I couldn't help but observe their interaction with each other.

"Can you hand me the . . . " Andrew waved his hand up in the air, ready to receive the document that Amelia handed him. She never took her eyes off her screen, and he never looked up.

"What is the . . . " Andrew said.

"Page 5," Amelia replied.

"Do you have the . . . " he asked as Amelia handed him another document.

"What was the . . . " he asked.

"$10,750.00," she replied.

"Can you hand me the . . . " he asked. Again without either of them looking up, Amelia handed him a highlighter.

"Thanks," he replied.

"Did you . . . " he said.

"Yes," she replied.

"What was . . . " he asked.

"$450,762.00," she replied.

"So you . . . " he asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Good," he commented.

These two were perfect for each other. Andrew never finished one sentence because Amelia automatically knew what he wanted, and she gave it to him. Neither looked up once from what they were doing. Maybe Mrs. DeBourg had a knack for matchmaking after all. These two boring people were probably made for each other. They were already acting like a married couple by reading each others' thoughts. I'm sure they'll have a long and miserable life together.

When I got to the living room, I ran into Karina. She said she was going to take a walk in the garden and asked me to join her. When we got outside, I couldn't help but ask about Amelia and Andrew's relationship.

"So Colleen told me that Amelia and Andrew will probably get engaged soon," I said nonchalantly.

Karina laughed and said, "I wouldn't hold my breath."

"So you don't think they'll get married?" I asked.

"Well, if they ever told me they were getting married, it wouldn't necessarily be the shock of the century. I mean they do spend a lot of time together at work. But considering they are not even dating, I don't see them getting engaged anytime soon," she replied.

"I heard they have been seeing each other for years," I asked a little surprised by her comment.

She laughed again, "Seeing each other is the right way to put it. Because having to attend business functions, lunches and dinners with clients does not constitute dating."

"But they'll probably get engaged eventually right? They seem to be perfect for one another," I remarked.

Again Karina laughed, "Perfect for each other? I have never met two people that are so completely different. Andrew is not Amy's type. Don't get me wrong. She respects him, she knows he is intelligent and a good person. But if she married him, she would be settling for someone that wouldn't make her happy."

"Who is Amelia's type?" Oh I'd love to hear his. I can only imagine, the captain of the debate team perhaps?

"Amy always goes for the funny guy. Guys that make her laugh. She doesn't have a type of guy in the physical sense of the word. It never seemed to matter to her if they were blonde or brunette, light or dark, skinny or fat. The only thing they all had in common was that they all made her laugh," Karina said as a matter of fact.

I really could not believe that Amelia did not care about a guy's physical appearance. She seems so shallow. Someone as beautiful as her would demand to be seen with a guy that was equally handsome. I couldn't help but think that Karina was only saying this because she was part of Amelia's family.

"Well, I can't seem to think Amelia and Andrew are perfect for each other," I stated.

"Well Amy is definitely perfect for Andrew. She is exactly what he needs. But Andrew is not perfect for Amy, he is not what she needs," Karina said plainly.

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

"Amy is just so full of life. She can get really loud, and hyper and act really silly. She is funny and fun to be around. Andrew needs someone like that in his life to make him happy. But Andrew is so quiet, and so serious all the time. Amy wouldn't be happier in life if she chose to be with him," Karina said seriously.

Amelia Darcy silly, funny, hyper!? I couldn't believe my ears. We can't possibly be talking about the same person.

Karina went on, "Amy does not want to marry Andrew. That is all aunt Catty's idea. She thinks it would be perfect for them to marry since Andrew will inherit his father's half of the company. And aunt Catty plans on leaving her half to Amy."

"But why is she leaving her half of the company to Amelia and not to you, or her brother?" I asked.

"Well aunt Catty always planned to have kids of her own. But about ten years ago she realized that was never going to happen. Then her husband died, and she gave up her plans to adopt. Instead she took over his position at the company. It wasn't hard to do, since the company is still privately owned by Mr. Slater and my aunt, with each owning half. And my aunt helped my uncle build the company, and made it the success it is today. When he died, she started to think about who would inherit her half of the company. I guess she could have chosen to have Mr. Slater buy out her portion of the business upon her death, and have the money given to charity or split amongst her family. But that is not what my aunt wants. She wants to pass the torch down to someone else. And that person is Amy," Karina finished.

"Yeah, but why Amelia? Why not you? You're older, or why not Amelia's brother?" I asked. I wanted to know what made Amelia so special.

"Well aunt Catty first set her sights on Jeff, Amy's brother. But she couldn't persuade him to go into business. Instead, Jeff became a firefighter. Then aunt Catty set her sights on me. But I have absolutely no head for business. I had to struggle to get a C in my high school math class. I don't have what it takes, and I don't want to spend my life in an office. Therefore my aunt was only left with one option, Amy," Karina stated.

"And I'm sure Amelia was more than willing to be next in line to inherit a multi-million dollar company," I remarked dryly.

"No. Actually, my aunt was still trying to work her magic on me when Amy chose her major. And Amy didn't choose to be a business major to please my aunt. Amy was undecided for a long time. She said she was interested in too many things to be able to choose just one. She was contemplating six different majors and just couldn't decide. So ultimately she chose business because she said she was sure a business degree would be helpful, in whatever career she would happen to choose in the future. She was being practical. She said she hoped she wasn't miserable at 40, because she had to choose what she wanted to do with her life at 20. And I think she made the right choice," Karina said seriously.

"So Amelia gets a business degree, and your aunt just hands over her company," I said as a matter of fact.

"Well it's not just that. My aunt has a lot of respect for Amy. Did you know she put herself through school? My aunt really admires her for it," Karina said simply.

"Amelia put herself through school? I thought she has a trust fund?" I was shocked to hear this.

"Yes, Amy has a trust fund that would have paid for her college tuition. She just chose not to use it," Karina stated simply.

"But why would she refuse to use the money? I mean that is what it is there for, right?" I asked.

"Pride. Amy has too much pride. She wanted to do it all on her own. She wanted to prove it to herself, and the rest of the world, that she could do it all by herself. She didn't want anybody's help," Karina replied.

"Well that's just stupid. She must have worked really hard to earn all that money," I remarked.

"She did, but not in the way you think. Amy won two scholarships and a grant that paid for all her tuition and books. She still had to work though," Karina informed me.

"Yeah, but that's messed up. To take scholarship money away from people who actually need it," I commented.

"Oh, Amy didn't apply for those scholarships. They were awarded to her," Karina replied.

"How does that work?" I had never heard of that.

"Well, Amy had worked on a community service project her senior year in high school. As a thank you, the organization awarded a scholarship to the senior who they felt contributed most to the project. The second scholarship was also a surprise because staff members secretly nominated students for it. I know more than one teacher submitted her name for consideration. I don't remember all the reasons why, but I do remember one. It was because Amy had been a volunteer tutor throughout her four years in high school. So she never took scholarship money away from people less fortunate. She earned it as a recognition of her contributions to the school and the community. The grant she won was awarded to her based on her high grade point average, nothing more. I'm not sure if she had to apply for that or not. But I know you had to at least be in the top 10 percent of your class to qualify, though Amy I think was in the top 5 percent. And I know at the very least, 10 other people from her school received the same grant. So she never took money away from the less fortunate," Karina supplied.

Wow! I guess Amelia has always been driven and consumed by work. No wonder she's so capable of running a multi-million dollar company in her twenties.

"What does Andrew say about Mrs. DeBourg's plans for their future?" I enquired.

"Well, Andrew is not one to talk about his feelings, but I did ask him once. He said if he could pick any woman in the world to marry, it would be Amy. Not only is she beautiful, but she is intelligent and well spoken. She understands his work and his nature, which he said most women don't. And she is just a joy to be around. She can make a typical, boring day a little more interesting. But he never admitted to being in love with her," Karina commented.

"But you think he is?" I couldn't help but notice the look on her face.

"Yeah. Even though he didn't admit it, there was just something in his voice. And the look in his eyes when he was talking about her. I can't help to think that he is very much in love with her," she replied.

"So why doesn't he do something about it?" I wondered.

"First of all, I think he is socially retarded when it comes to dating. He's not the kind of guy to send a girl flowers or give her compliments. Second, they work together and he sees men hitting on her all the time. He sees she doesn't like it, and he respects her too much to be one of those guys. Third, it would be awkward if he asked her out and she turns him down. After all, they do have to work together everyday. Finally, it might be too much. I mean they do work together all day long already. If they saw each other after work, it might be overkill. Too much togetherness," she said plainly.

"Is she leading him on?" I asked.

"No. I think he just can't help but admire her. Especially with everything she has going on at once," Karina commented.

"Why would he admire her if they share the same workload?" I asked.

"Not only is Amy the CFO of DS Industries. She also manages her family's real estate holdings," Karina replied.

"What? Amelia has two jobs!?" I asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah, basically. I mean, managing her family's real estate holdings can be a full-time job if she wanted it to be. But since she already works for DS Industries, that would be even more difficult then what she does now. Amy makes all the decisions and manages all the accounts on behalf of her family. But she has two guys that she hired to do all the leg work. You know, being there to open the door for a plumber, or when someone breaks a window, stuff like that," Karina informed me.

"Amelia does it all herself? Or her family helps her manage it?" I enquired.

"No, Amy does it all herself. She doesn't want her mom or brother to deal with it," Karina replied.

"Why? Because she thinks they'll screw up?" I wondered.

"No. Since her brother is a fireman, he has to work 24 hour shifts. Sometimes 48 hours. That can be a problem. I mean he just can't leave work if he is needed on a property somewhere. But Amy can go during her lunch hour or after work, so it's more practical. And she doesn't want her mom to have to deal with the problems. It's just easier if she handles everything herself. After all, she's a single woman with no children. So she claims that it is not an inconvenience for her to manage things," Karina finished.

Wow! Why would she drown herself in work like that? I bet with her trust fund, she doesn't even need the money. She must be really greedy if she feels the need to work so much.

Later that night, I was walking down the hall and I heard laughter. As I got closer, I realized it was coming from the study. The door was slightly open, so I stuck my head in. There on the coach lay Amelia and Karina. One had her head resting on the arm rest on one side. The other had her head on the other armrest. So they were facing each other. Their feet were intertwined in the middle of the couch. As soon as I stuck my head in, they both looked up. Amelia quickly threw her hand over her mouth to quiet herself down. Karina stopped laughing and turned to Amelia.

"See I told you! We can at least be grateful it wasn't dear aunt Catty. I can't bear another one of her lectures on propriety and proper decorum," Karina said sarcastically.

Amelia just continued to lie there, with her hand over her mouth, and didn't say a word.

"So what are you two up too?" I asked, a little curious about what they had been laughing at.

Before they had a chance to answer me, a maid walked in and excused herself.

"I'm sorry to bother you all, but Mrs. DeBourg would like to see Miss Amelia in the drawing room please," the maid said as she turned and walked away.

"Ha! That's what you get!" Karina said as Amelia rose from the couch, and softly used her foot to kick Amelia in the butt.

Amelia just glared at her, as she walked right past me and out the door.

"So what was that about?" I asked a little confused about what had been going on.

"That was karma punishing Amy for her loud and rowdy behavior," Karina said in all seriousness.

"Amelia!?" I couldn't believe this. She hadn't even opened her mouth since I entered the room.

"I told you she gets really loud and silly. Normally I wouldn't care. In fact it's quite entertaining actually. But not at aunt Catty's. I don't want Amy to get me in trouble with her. I kept telling her to keep it down. I didn't want my aunt to find us. Or to overhear what we were saying," Karina said.

"Why? What were you talking about?" she still hadn't dropped any clue to what had them in stitches.

"Oh . . . um . . . Amy was just telling me some jokes that I wouldn't dare repeat to anyone," she finished.

I woke up the next day and decided to go for a run. I got dressed and went downstairs. When I went out the front door, I found Amelia stretching on the front steps. I have to admit that the view I had of her bending over was very enjoyable. She wore black pants with two thin white stripes that ran down the sides. She wore a form fitting exercise top that matched the pants and showed off her mid-drift. She turned around and looked up at me.

"Are you going for a jog as well?" she asked.

"Yup. I didn't know you jogged," I commented.

"Well I hardly ever have the time to jog in Meryton. But I always jog when I come here. It's just so beautiful," she remarked.

"Yeah, well I'll see you later," I said, I didn't want to get stuck having to jog with her.

"Don't you want to jog together?" she asked.

"You said you hardly ever jog. So you won't be able to keep up with me," I thought that was an excellent excuse.

A smile crept up on her face, "Okay, I get it. You're afraid you won't have the stamina to keep up with a girl."

"Are you challenging me?" I asked. I know she just wants to try to prove that she's better than me.

"No. I know not that many men can admit that they can't keep up with a woman," she said still smiling.

What a brat! All she wants to do is provoke me. She knows just what buttons to push to get a rise out of me. She knows I won't back down from a challenge. She just can't wait to prove that she is better than me. Well, this was one battle I was not going to let her win.

"I'm not scared of you," I said.

"Good, so try to keep up," she said as she ran down the driveway.

The little bitch trapped me into jogging with her. I quickly caught up to her and we started jogging at an even pace. After a while she started asking me questions. Yes, Amelia Darcy. The same Amelia Darcy that had no problem staying silent for hours, all of a sudden became Susie Chatterbox. She asked me questions like if I liked to travel? If I could travel anywhere, where would I go? Did I have any goals I wanted to accomplish?

Yeah, talk about weird. Like if she really cares. We jogged for about two and a half miles before we both gave up and decided to turn back. I usually only run a total of two miles, so I knew I was really going to be in pain once we returned. But it would be well worth it, knowing that she would be suffering more, considering she hardly ever jogs.

Later that day I was sore and in a bad mood. I didn't know running a few extra miles would be this painful. The only bright spot in my day was knowing that Amelia would be in even worse shape. I was sitting with Karina, in a room that is called the sun porch, when Amelia walked in. To my surprise, she wasn't limping and she didn't wince when she sat down.

"So how are you feeling?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Fine," she said a little surprised by my question.

"You're not in any pain?" I enquired.

"No," she replied, with a confused look on her face.

Karina noticed the look and asked, "Why would she be in any pain?"

"Oh, we just went for a jog this morning. And I was just wondering how she was feeling since she wasn't used to jogging," I said nonchalantly.

Before Amelia could reply, Karina asked her, "Didn't you just run _Race For The Cure_?"

What!? She ran a marathon, and then turns around and tells me that she hardly ever jogs!

"Yeah, but that was a couple of months ago," Amelia replied.

"But you trained for a couple of months, right?" Karina asked.

"Yeah," Amelia replied nonchalantly.

"I thought you told me you didn't have time to jog?" I asked, trying my best to hide my anger.

"I don't. It is usually late at night when I have the time to exercise. So it's not really safe to jog around Meryton late at night. So I use my treadmill instead," Amelia said plainly.

Treadmill! Ugh! That's the same thing as jogging! She lied to me! Ugh! I just sat there brooding. Karina excused herself because she had to call her boyfriend. And I was once again left alone with Amelia. After a while, I couldn't stand the silence anymore, so I started talking.

"So when are you heading back to work?" hopefully soon, I thought to myself.

"Actually, once I leave here, I will be going on vacation," Amelia replied.

"So what do you plan to do during your vacation?" I wondered.

"Oh, I just plan on visiting some old friends of mine," she responded.

"Let me guess, you'll be spending your time get manicures, facials, massages and taking mud baths?" I said trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

She started laughing and said, "Oh yeah, mud will definitely be involved."

She then got quiet and seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. It looked like she wanted to say something. I finally asked her what was on her mind.

"Maybe when I get back, uh, we could, uh, go out sometime?" she asked hesitantly.

What!? It took me a while to respond to what she had just said.

"Go out? As in, maybe we could go out for a couple of drinks or something, you mean?" I can't be understanding her correctly. I must be hearing things

"Well, uh, not necessarily drinks, but uh, yeah?" she stammered.

She can't be serious. She has to be joking.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, you don't drink," was the only thing I could think to say. I was stunned.

"Well, I mean, if that's what you want to do, uh, I guess that will be okay?" she replied hesitantly.

"Why would we go out for drinks, if you don't drink?" I questioned.

"Just because I choose not to spend my time that way, doesn't mean you have to," she replied.

What does she mean by that?

"Spending my time doing what? Drinking and having a good time. What's so wrong with that?" I asked starting to get angry. Little miss high and mighty obviously thought she was too good to spend her time like that.

"Nothing," she replied.

"No, you implied something," I persisted.

"No, I didn't," she said.

"Yes, you did," I continued.

"No, I just noticed that your younger brothers like to drink a lot, that's all," she replied.

"And what's wrong with that? What's wrong with loosening up and having a good time?" I said as my anger started to rase.

"Nothing. It's just sometimes they can get out of control," she replied exasperated.

Okay, Chris and Leo may act like idiots most of the time, but I wasn't about to let her put down my family. Little miss high and mighty obviously thinks she is better than us.

"Who are you to judge them?" I asked.

"I wasn't judging them, I was just making an observation," she replied.

"This coming from a woman who looks down on everyone else. You hadn't known me two minutes, before you stuck your nose up in the air and determined I was not worth of your time. Now you want me to go out with you! Should I get on my knees and thank my lucky stars that you finally deem myself worthy of being in your presence. Well I'm sorry, because you can just forget it!" I said in anger.

"Is that what you really think of me?" she asked.

"Yes it is!" I replied.

"Well I'm sorry that I wasted your time," she said as she got up and walked out of the room.

I was so angry that I didn't go down to dinner that night. I made up an excuse about not feeling well. Which was in a sense true because I was really pissed. Charlie came in to see what I was up to. He could tell I wasn't really sick, but he knew me well enough to leave me alone. He could tell I was angry and knew he should just let me cool off before he pressed me for details. So he left me alone and went to spend time with Colleen.

The next morning, Charlie walked in my room with two mugs of coffee. He handed me one and asked what happened. So I told him the whole story. He never interrupted me and his face never betrayed his thoughts. He just sat there and listened. That's what I love about Charlie, he's always cool and calm in every situation.

"I mean, who does she think she is? What gives her the right to judge people? And how they spend their free time?" I said.

"Well can you blame her for thinking that way after everything she's been through?" Charlie asked, finally breaking his silence.

"What? Charlie, what in the hell are you talking about?" I asked.

"Can you blame her for feeling uncomfortable around people who are drinking after what happened to her father?" Charlie asked.

"Her father?" I asked. I was confused.

"You didn't know?" Charlie asked.

"Didn't know what?" I asked. I have no idea what he is talking about.

"Amelia's father was killed by a drunk driver a few years ago. What made it worse was the fact that the driver had two prior offenses. He had gotten away both times with only a slap on the wrist," Charlie finished.

"What . . . where'd you hear that?" I said.

"Colleen told me," Charlie stated.

"How did Colleen find out?" I wondered.

"Mrs. DeBourg told her," he said.

"Oh my . . . " I trailed off as I put my elbows on my knees, and my head in my hands. "What your telling me is that she doesn't drink, and she feels uncomfortable around people who are drinking a lot, because it reminds her of her father's death?"

"Well, that would be my guess, yeah," Charlie agreed.

"Shit!" I replied.

"What?" he asked.

I felt so bad. I acted like a complete and total jackass. If I had known about her father, I would have never reacted that way. I would have never spoken to her like that. "I need to go and apologize to her."

Charlie said, "You can't."

I asked, "Why not?"

"Because she left for the airport not that long ago," he replied.

"Oh, that's right. She said she was going to visit some friends," I said plainly.

Charlie almost spit out his coffee when he started laughing, "Visiting some friends? Is that what she told you?" he said through his laughter.

"Yeah, why? What's so funny?" I asked confused by Charlie's laughter.

"Amelia is going to Africa for a month. She is going to work in the same village that she volunteered at, the summer after graduating from college," he replied.

"What!?" I was in shock. So many questions were running through my head. Amelia volunteered in an African village? She was going to spend her vacation volunteering? Why did she tell me she was visiting some friends?

"How do you know?" I was so surprised by all this information that Charlie was privy to.

"Colleen told me because she was helping Mrs. DeBourg allocate all of Amelia's responsibilities for the month that she will be away. She was telling me how difficult it was to do. But Amelia had not really used any of her vacation time since joining the company. And Mrs. DeBourg could see how important this was to Amelia," he finished.

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before Charlie?" I asked.

"Why would you want to know? You're the one that's always saying you can't stand to be around her," he replied.

"I know, I know. It's just that this changes everything," I said.

"What does it change exactly?" Charlie said, giving me a knowing look, trying to hide the smile on his face.

"It's not what your thinking. It's just that it puts me in the wrong. All the things I told her were not justified. I said things I shouldn't have. I really messed up. And now she is going to be gone for a month. And she will spend all that time hating me," I commented.

"Why do you care if she hates you? After all, you spent all these months claiming to hate her remember," he replied still smiling.

"Well technically, I don't care if she hates me. She can hate me. She has the right to after what I said. Under other circumstances, she could go on hating me and me hating her. But there is John and Katie's wedding to consider. I'm the best man, and she's the maid of honor. John has been waiting his whole life to meet the woman of his dreams. I am not going to ruin his wedding by having all this tension between the two of us. I am sure we will be forced to be around each other a lot in the next couple of months. And I don't want John or Katie to feel uncomfortable," I finished.

"So this isn't because you're falling for her?" he asked.

"Falling for her? No. This hasn't changed the fact that we have absolutely nothing in common. Or the fact that she does not have the qualities I am looking for in a woman. It just means that she is not the person I thought she was. I thought the worst of her. I jumped to all the wrong conclusions and I was wrong," I admitted.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked.

"What time did she leave?" I replied.

"Maybe 45 minutes ago. Why do you ask?" he enquired.

"Do you know what time her flight leaves?" I wondered.

"I think it doesn't leave for another two hours. Why? What are you planning to do?" he asked.

I looked at my watch, "I'm going to the airport."

"Are you crazy? You'll never get there in time, and even if you do, they won't let you past the security check point without a ticket. So you can get there an hour before her plane takes off, but it won't do you any good if she is past the check point. She'll never even know you were there," Charlie protested.

"There are always delays and long lines. I have to at least try," I said.

I grabbed my car keys and headed for the door. While I was on the road, I realized I didn't have her flight information. There was no way I was going to have a chance of finding her without it. I called Charlie on my cell phone, and asked if he could get her flight information for me. He called me back 10 minutes later, after getting the information from Colleen. I had never been to the Hunsford airport before, so it took me a while to park and maneuver my way through the place. When I finally got to the place I needed to be, I looked put at the monitors to check the status of her plane. Right next to her flight number were the words, "Now boarding," flashing in red.


	8. Chapter 7

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

**Thanks again for your reviews, I love hearing what you have to say :)**

**Author's Notes: There is no humor in this chapter. Sorry. Adding any type of humor wouldn't be appropriate. The way I describe Amelia handling the death of her father is based on real life. I've watched some of my friends grieve after losing a parent. So that is what I've based it on, what I've seen first hand.**

**Marshie12: I finished this chapter as quickly as I could. Sorry. I never meant for the last chapter to be a cliffhanger. It was just so long, I had to cut it off somewhere. :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations.**

**Chapter 7**

When I got back to Rosings, there was a car parked by the front door. The butler was loading luggage into the trunk. I walked in and found Karina putting on her coat.

"Oh Mike, there you are. I wanted to say goodbye before I left," Karina said with a smile.

"Yeah, I just got back. So your leaving right now? I was hoping I could talk to you for a second," I replied.

"Well, I have a few minutes. I'm driving back with Andrew, but he is still talking to my aunt. So I have time," she responded.

"Well, uh, did you talk to Amelia by any chance?" I said while scratching the back of my neck.

"Yeah, I said goodbye to her this morning before she left for the airport. Why? Do you need to talk to her?" she asked.

"I already tried. I went to the airport, but I was too late. Her plane was already boarding when I got there. So I never got the chance," I confessed.

"You went to the airport!?" Karina said surprised, her mouth still hanging open.

I just nodded.

"Why?" she asked still in shock.

"Did she happen to tell you about our . . . . disagreement yesterday?" I asked a little scared of what her reaction might be.

"She mentioned something, yes," Karina said with a blank face, obviously wanting to stay neutral on the subject.

"Oh, well, I went to go apologize to her. I had been in a bad mood and I shot off my mouth without knowing all the facts. And now that I know, I feel like a complete jerk. I mean, I never would have talked to her like that if I knew the things I know now. I'm just so confused. I have so many questions running through my head right now. And I need to talk to someone," I finally finished.

"Well, I'll try to answer any questions you might have," she said.

"Um, okay, uh, why is Amelia going to Africa? I mean, uh, how did she even get involved in all that in the first place?" I asked.

"Well, I guess it all started when Amy was in college. She was a business major, as you know, and she needed to find an internship. She became friends with one of her professors, and he happened to mention that he knew of an opportunity for her. It was with a children's charity in Cheapside. Since the organization was nonprofit, it had several different funders that kept them afloat. However, each funder required the charity to fill-out different types of financial reports to see how their money was being spent. Apparently that's a common practice for funders who donate thousands of dollars a year. Anyway, Amy agreed to work there for free in exchange for college credit. So she worked with the accounting department, completing those financial reports," Karina replied.

"Wow. Cheapside is a really bad area," I commented.

"I know. At first her family didn't mind because it was supposed to only last six weeks. But then they offered her a job when she finished her internship, and that is when her family got worried. They were always ragging on her to quit her job. I mean, they admired the fact that she worked there. But they felt it was too dangerous. They were scared something might happen to her. Her brother, being a fireman, knew all about the crimes that happened in the area, and tried to get her to quit. I mean, who could blame them after all. They love her and would probably blame themselves if something really awful happened to her," she remarked.

"What did Amelia say?" I wondered.

"She would get mad at them, saying they didn't understand because they didn't know the children. Even though she worked in the office at first, she was always surrounded by kids and teenagers. She said they might not have behaved like angels, but she really enjoyed working there. She appreciated her family's concern. But she would tell them not to worry about her, to worry about the kids instead. She said she was an adult who knew all the dangers. She only had to walk a few yards out to her car at night. Some of the children had to walk several blocks alone in the dark, because their parents were at work. She said there were kids as young as five left to go home by themselves. She said that is who people should be worried about, not her," she finished.

"I can't believe that? What about social services? Wouldn't they do something about that? Isn't that considered neglect?" I remarked.

"I asked her about that. She said you would not believe how often they had to contact them. The truth is that they are so flooded with cases, which are even more severe, that children being left alone or unattended doesn't even hit their radar," she replied.

"You can't be serious?" I said.

"I am. That is why she felt it was so important to work there. Anyway, one day several people called in sick and they were out of substitutes. They were in a real bind and asked Amy to help fill-in for one of the after-school programs. She loved it. She completely fell in love with the children. She said they could be a real handful at times. But they had such amazing hearts and could be really sweet. So Amy decided to apply for one of their after-school programs and got it. Depending on her class schedule, she would still work in the office during the day. But come three o'clock, she was in her classroom ready to teach her program. Since it was an after-school program, she didn't need a teaching degree. She just had to go for some trainings like first aid, and stuff like that. With her skills, she could have easily found a job that paid twice as much. But she knew she couldn't abandon those kids. Those kids needed someone. It's like that saying, it takes a village to raise a child. Amy was trying to provide what their parents weren't," she sighed.

"Does that charity have facilities in Africa?" I asked.

"No. Amy wanted to do so much more then what she was already doing. Her work inspired her to try to make a difference in other places as well. That is when she started doing research, and found an organization she could volunteer at in Africa. So she left a week after she graduated from college. It's funny because she didn't even have to quit her job because it was the start of summer. Therefore no school, no after-school programs. And they didn't need her assistance to run the summer programs. So it all worked out perfectly," Karina commented.

"So she planned to return to her job when she came back? What happened? Why is she working for DS Industries?" I wondered.

"When she returned, it was bitter sweet. She was happy that she was able to help so many people. But she was saddened by seeing innocent children lose their lives, and feeling helpless to stop it. When she left here, I don't think she ever thought about the toll it would take on her, by seeing innocent children die of diseases like AIDS. I mean, imagine attending the funeral for one child you know. Now imagine you did that on a weekly basis, or even more frequently then that. Imagine the toll it would take on you. Well that was Amy. I can't even begin to explain what she was feeling when she returned from Africa," she finished.

I didn't know what to say. I was speechless. I couldn't imagine going through something like that.

Karina continued, "Shortly after Amy returned, her father was killed by a drunk driver, and Amy's world was shattered. All of a sudden, Amy felt incredibly guilty that she had been away for the past three months. She told me she was stupid enough to think that she could help change the world. And her naive, idealistic mentality caused her to miss the last few months of her father's life. We tried to reason with her. There was no way to predict what would happen. Her father had not been ill. It wasn't as if she had abandoned him. But Amy didn't see it that way. It was time that she could never get back, and she blamed herself and beat herself up over it. She felt regret because she didn't have a chance to say a proper good bye. She felt robbed that her father would not be there to walk her down the isle and give her away. That she would never get to see his reaction at meeting his grandchildren. She felt anger that the drunk driver had two prior offenses and had got off with just a slap on the wrist. She felt pain knowing her father suffered a painful death. And it killed her that he was all alone, with none of them there to try to comfort him during his last moments alive. She was a total mess, and we were all so scared that she might fall into a depression."

I felt tears sting the back of my eyes. I had no idea how much she went through in such a short period of time. No wonder she wasn't all smiles like Katie.

"What happened then?" I asked.

"The first couple of days she was a total mess. But then I noticed a huge change in her. She would try to comfort her mother and brother. She would hold them when they cried, maybe even let some tears escape, but that was all. Then Katie and I would notice, that all of a sudden Amy would disappear. She would go for a walk or go upstairs. We then would go looking for her and find her locked in some room sobbing. The moment we'd find her, she would try to wipe away her tears and say she was fine. She would get up and return to where everyone else was gathered. It's like she felt she had to be strong for her family's sake. She thought if they saw how much she was hurting it was only going to make things worse. She would bottle up her emotions, and would try to appear strong for the sake of her mom and Jeff. She took over all the arrangements for the funeral, and the family's real estate holdings that her father used to run. She became the protector. She put all the responsibilities on her shoulders. I think she was trying to use it as a distraction from all the pain she was feeling. And she thought she was taking care of her family by putting all the burdens on herself," Karina replied.

I just shook my head. I couldn't imagine how I would react in that situation. I had never lost anyone I loved.

"Anyway, weeks later, after all the relatives went home, Katie or I would still find Amy locked away in some part of the house sobbing. She refused to talk about what happened. She would always shrug it off and say she was fine. That is when aunt Catherine made her move. She used the situation to her advantage by saying, now is the time when families stick together and look out for each other. And that is how she manipulated Amy to come and work for her," Karina commented.

Ugh! That made me mad! How could she use her like that! How could she manipulate her own niece when she was grieving the loss of her father!

"I don't even remember what Amy's plans were when she returned from Africa. But they certainly didn't include working for aunt Catty. Amy was so devastated that she hoped by burying herself in work, somehow she would be able to push all the pain she was feeling aside. She became a workaholic as a way to try to ignore all the pain she was feeling. I mean, we all knew it wasn't the healthiest thing in the world for her to do. But at least she was functioning. Everyone deals with grief differently. And Katie and I were just grateful that she hadn't fallen into a depression," she finished.

"And she has been this way ever since?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"Is that why she is so serious all the time?" I wondered.

"I can't say it was one thing or the other, or a combination of everything that happened. I mean look at everything that happen to her in six months. She graduated from college, she went to Africa, her father died, she took over his responsibilities managing their real estate holdings, she moved to Meryton and started working for aunt Catty. So much happened to her, that I can't say one thing changed her. Plus she became a business woman, who wanted to be taken seriously. She can't be her fun loving self all the time. I think it is hard for any woman in a position of power to earn respect from their colleagues. Now add the fact that Amy is young and beautiful. They either assume she is too young to really know what she is doing. Or that she only got where she is because of her looks. Not to mention the fact that aunt Catty owns the company. Now can you honestly expect her to be all smiles and still be taken seriously?" she asked.

"No, I guess not. But what about when she is not at work?" I couldn't help but wonder.

"I've noticed how she has become shy and more reserved around strangers. But I can't say it is because she is traumatized or anything. She was more outgoing before, but she was a kid, then a teenager, then a college student. Isn't everyone different when they're younger? Amy is still Amy. She is still the girl I grew up with. Except she only emerges around people she has known for along time, and is comfortable with. I noticed with everyone else she puts up walls. It's not until she knows someone, that she is willing to knock those walls down and be herself," she replied.

"At the beach, she was around people she has known her whole life. I wouldn't really say she appeared to be comfortable when we were there," I remarked.

"Wasn't Carl there?" she asked.

I just nodded.

"You really expect her to be completely comfortable around Carl, when he is constantly hitting on her?" she asked.

"I guess you're right," I had never thought about it like that before.

"But why does she now, all of a sudden, feel the need to return to Africa?" I wondered.

"Well, she always felt guilty for leaving in the first place. She felt she was abandoning the children that really needed her. But good thing she returned when she did. At least she got to spend a little time with her dad before he was killed. I don't know what it would have done to her, if she had been so far away when it happened," Karina remarked.

"But why now? What has changed to make her want to go back?" I asked.

Karina gave me a poignant look and said, "Well, I guess lately there have been some things that made her reevaluate her life, and examine where it was headed. It seems to me that she is ready to make a few changes."

Karina continued giving me that intense look, "Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

She just continued to stare at me, "What, you can't possibly think I have anything to do with it?"

"Well, no, not totally anyway. But she's interested in you. And I don't think she's felt that way about anyone in a long time," she replied.

"Why would Amelia be interested in me? I've never even tried to get her to like me," I stated.

"Exactly. You are not a yes person. Amy is surrounded by these guys that constantly give her false compliments, because they are interested in her for all the wrong reasons. They like her for her looks, her body, her money, or all of the above. So they are yes men. You know, people who will agree with everything she says, just to get in her good graces. But you don't do that. You always say what is exactly on your mind. And she knows you are sincere in your actions because you've never hit on her. You're not trying to impress her. If you think she is wrong you say it, and you make her explain her rationalization. By doing that you are actually taking the time to try to understand her, and how her mind works. You treat her as your equal, and rightfully so. No man has ever done that except for Andrew," she finished.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Amelia was attracted to me, even though I'm always picking fights with her. She was impressed that I wouldn't backdown from an argument. Most girls hate that. I was getting more confused by the minute.

Karina continued, "Come to think about it, that is probably why she has become so shy and serious around people she doesn't know."

"How so?" I asked.

"Look at it from her point of view. Guys are always hitting on her. If she were to always act like the fun loving Amy that I know, she'd probably be accused of flirting, leading men on or playing games. So she acts serious because she doesn't want to encourage their attentions," Karina said in all seriousness.

Damn! That made a lot of sense. Amelia acts serious so she won't be accused of leading men on, or encouraging their behavior.

"Well if she ever thought I was different from any other guy, a lot of good it did me. She must really hate me now, after the way I acted. I misunderstood everything she said and her actions," I said as Andrew approached.

"Ready to go?" he asked Karina. She nodded and he extended his hand to me, "It was nice meeting you Michael," he said as I shook his hand and he walked out the door.

"Sorry, I got to go," Karina said as she hugged me goodbye. I walked her to the car and opened the door for her. She squeezed my hand before closing the door. I walked back into the house and was lost in thought. I was so confused. I didn't want Amelia to hate me. But after everything I learned, I don't see how I can ever face her again.

I found Charlie and told him what happened. I spent the whole drive home thinking about what I would do the next time I saw her. Sooner or later, I was going to have to face Amelia Darcy.


	9. Chapter 8

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

**Thanks again to everyone that reviewed. I was so scared you weren't going to like the last chapter, because it was more informative then entertaining. I love hearing what you think :)**

**Sobee1982: Thank you so much for your reviews. Your comment about Jeff acting like a protective big brother concerning Mike, really inspired me to add a conversation in chapter 9. I had been going back and forth about it, because I was thinking about Georgiana's character in the book. She wanted to see her brother happy in a relationship. But, like you mentioned, a brother would most likely be more protective of his sister. So I can't thank you enough. Your comment really inspired me. Thanks :) **

**Here are the answers to your questions. You get to meet Mrs. Darcy in this chapter and Jeff in the next. I followed the same time line as the book, so Jeff doesn't arrive until the second day they are at Pemberley. There will be one chapter for each day they're there. **

**The age difference between Amelia and Jeff is pretty much answered in this chapter with more details to come in chapter 9. **

**I really hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations.**

**Chapter 8**

I think this is the first Thanksgiving that my family will not be spending together. It started when Leo decided he would rather go to Brighton with his buddies then be with the family. Chris desperately wanted to go with him, but is currently broke. Katie invited John and I to spend Thanksgiving with her family in Pemberley. I had planned on turning her down until my parents announced they were going to Lambton for Thanksgiving. My aunt and uncle invited us all over to their house this year. Even though they're my favorite relatives, I knew I had to pass. Their house is barely big enough to house all my cousins. Let alone, all my family minus Leo and John. If I stayed at their place, I'd probably have to pitch a tent in the front yard.

So I decided to take Katie up on her offer. The only downer was that Carl was going to be there. But I like everyone else in her family. Louis and Heidi are just quiet people, and I met Katie's parents at John and Katie's engagement party. They seem really nice. Now I know where Katie gets it from. Though, I don't see how they could have produced a son like Carl. But I shouldn't be the one to talk considering my family. No one would ever believe that the same parents who produce John could be responsible for creating Leo. The only doubt I had about going was the possibility of running into Amelia. But I figured if she was back by now, she'd probably be stuck in Meryton. After being away from work for a month, she probably wouldn't have the time to travel to Pemberley.

So the Tuesday before Thanksgiving I found myself driving up north, to a little town called Pemberley. It was an hour's drive from Meryton. I had never been there before. All I knew about Pemberley was that the real estate prices there were astronomical.

When I first saw Pemberley, I was shocked. I was expecting huge mansions like Rosings. Instead I found beautifully situated houses. They weren't huge mansions. But these houses were definitely bigger than the average sized home. The real difference was that these homes were situated on acres, not lots. I noticed some of the houses even had stables. Kids who lived here had a lot of room to play and explore.

The whole town was gorgeous. It reminded me of photos I had seen of Napa Valley in Northern California. Even now, with the cold weather and the leaves that had fallen from the trees, it was breathtaking. I could only imagine what it would look like in the spring. No wonder real estate prices in the town were through the roof. It was well worth it to live in such a beautiful, peaceful setting.

We drove up to Katie's house and her parents were there ready to greet us. The place was really nice, but not pretentious like Rosings. I was happy to see they didn't have a butler or maid running around. It made me feel more relaxed. After we put our stuff in the guestroom, Katie showed us her childhood bedroom. I would imagine it hadn't changed much since she was little. It still had a twin bed that would be idyllic for any little girl. It was very pink and very girly, very Katie. The photos on the wall and on her bookshelf instantly caught my eye. The majority of the photos were from high school, and almost all had Amelia in them. There was one with Katie and Amelia sitting on bleachers, huddled together, wearing large letterman jackets that obviously belonged to some guys. They were smiling at the camera, and had green and gold ribbons tied in their hair. Based on the souvenirs Katie had in her room, it was apparent that Pemberley High School's colors were green and gold.

I noticed another photo taken after their high school graduation. There were around ten people in the photo. All still wore their graduation gowns, but everyone had unzipped them. Some had their arms around the other's shoulders. And some had each others arms linked at the elbows. They all stood in a line, facing the camera smiling. Katie and Amelia were in the center.

I picked up a framed photograph that was on the bookshelf. Katie and Amelia were probably six or seven years old. Katie had on some type of fairy princess costume with a crown and a wand. But Amelia wasn't wearing a costume. Both were smiling at the camera and holding bags that said Happy Halloween. Amelia wore a pink shirt with a purple jacket. She had on jeans and had a red bandana tied around one of her legs. She wore pink _Converse_ and had her hair in two pony tails. Can you imagine that? Amelia Darcy in pigtails! I turned to Katie and asked why Amelia wasn't wearing a costume.

Katie responded, "Amy's wearing a costume. She's dressed like _Punky Brewster_."

I don't know why but that made me laugh. It's like they both chose costumes to fit their personalities, and they haven't changed since. Though Amelia is very feminine, she never struck me as the fairy princess type. When I put the photo back, I noticed a yearbook sitting on the shelf below it. I asked Katie if I could look at it and she said sure. When I looked up Katie's name, I wasn't surprised to read cheerleader written under her photo, as well as homecoming queen.

I was flipping through the pages and found a photo of Katie with her crown, standing next to the homecoming king. The guy was the stereotypical, good looking, high school jock. Tall, muscles, nice smile. The photo was of some type of ceremony. Probably when they had just received their crowns. After a while, I couldn't help myself, I was finally tempted enough to look up Amelia's photo. Under the photo it read:

**Amelia A. Darcy**

_Yearbook Editor_

_School Website Staff Member_

_Honors Society Member_

_Future Business Leaders Of America Member_

_Homecoming Committee_

_Senior Prom Committee_

_Volunteer After-School Tutor_

Wow. That was Amelia the overachiever. She definitely seemed like the bossy, organized type of person that would succeed in those types of activities. As I continued flipping through the book, I found Amelia was in several photos. She was smiling and looking like she was actually having a good time. In most of the photos, she was with the same guy that was named homecoming king. There were a couple where he had his arm around her or they were hugging. Another where she was sitting on top of his shoulders. In all the photos they looked so happy together. It was so weird to see Amelia so happy, and in the arms of another guy. It was clear that they cared for each other a great deal. I put the book back and tried to get the vision of Amelia smiling out of my head.

A few hours later, Katie suggested that we should go next door to the Darcys. She was anxious for Mrs. Darcy to meet John, since she wasn't able to attend their engagement party. My whole body tensed the moment I heard her suggestion. I really did not want to go to the Darcys. I could only imagine what Amelia's reaction might be at seeing me, if she happened to be there. After everything Karina had told me, I didn't have the guts to face her. Apologizing at the airport would have been bad. But now that I know so much more then what I knew then, I don't even know what to say her. John stood up and was getting ready to leave when I asked, "Shouldn't you call first?"

Katie frowned and looked at me like it was a foreign concept to her or something. "Call?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"Yeah, it's kind of rude to just drop in with people she has never met. What if she has some company over already?" I proclaimed.

Katie just shrugged and said, "Okay, I'll call then and see if we can come over."

When Katie came back I asked, "So?"

She just shrugged and said, "She said we could come over. She's there by herself right now. Amy is here for the weekend, but she's out. She went riding. She won't be back for hours."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Though I knew at one point I should apologize to Amelia, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. It felt like so much time had passed. I could only imagine how much she hated me now. But at least I had a little reprieve because she was out riding. Riding. It figures the Amelia Darcy would ride horses. She was probably an accomplished equestrian who competed in horse jumping competitions. I could just picture her looking all prim and proper with that black hat and blazer.

We grabbed our jackets and walked next door. I hadn't seen the house yet, since we drove up from the opposite end of the street. There was a tall row of hedges that separated the two properties, so I couldn't see the house from the Bingley's front yard. As we walked up the driveway, I got my first good view of their home. It was absolutely beautiful. The Bingley home was really nice, but the Darcy home was picturesque. It had this beautiful, old fashion, porch in front of the house. It reminded me of those big, expensive, doll houses they sell in toy stores. You know the ones that look so perfect, that you swear that houses like that don't really exist. I guess I was wrong. They do exist and Amelia grew up in one of them. As we walked up the front steps, the door opened to reveal a woman, probably in her fifties. She had shoulder length, black, wavy hair. She had brown eyes and Amelia's nose and bone structure. Her other facial features did not resemble Amelia's. They had the same eye color, but the shapes of their eyes were different. And she was a little shorter then Amelia, and didn't have her pouty lips. The woman greeted us with a warm smile.

"Hi sweetheart," she said as she hugged Katie.

"Hi Anne," Katie replied cheerfully, "I'd like you to meet my fiancé John Bennet and my future brother-in-law Michael. John, Mike this is Anne Darcy."

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you," John replied as he extended his hand.

Mrs. Darcy pushed his hand away and said, "Forget that. You're marrying one of my girls. Welcome to the family," she said as she stepped forward and gave him a hug, which made Katie's smile even bigger.

John was happy to get such a warm welcome and hugged her back. His smile rivaled Katie's. Once she let go of John, I stepped forward and said, "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Darcy."

"It's nice to meet you to Michael," she said as she embraced me. I have to admit that I was happy to get such a warm response. Part of me was fearful that Amelia might have told her mother about it.

"Come in, come in," she told us as she ushered us in the house.

Mrs. Darcy showed us to the living room and went to get us some coffee. I was happy to see the house was furnished with nice, comfortable furniture. I was glad it wasn't the other kind of furniture that was nice to look at, but a pain to actually sit on. I instantly noticed all the family photos that were neatly hung on one wall. I walked over and started to examine them as John and Katie talked amongst themselves. The first photo I noticed was of a little boy holding a baby girl in his arms. I could only assume the baby was Amelia and the little boy was her brother. The boy had to be at least ten years old in the photo. I quickly scanned the other photos and noticed almost all had Amelia at different ages, with the same teenaged boy. This was obviously her brother Jeff, and there was apparently a huge age gap between them.

The next photo I looked at was of a baby Amelia. She was laying on her stomach, too small to crawl, but was lifting her head straight up and smiling at the camera. A big beautiful smile. I don't think I've ever seen any baby smile like that.

The next photo was a professional family photograph. Mrs. Darcy and Jeff were standing behind a chair that Mr. Darcy was sitting on. Mr. Darcy seemed to be a pleasant sort of man based on his photograph. On his lap sat, I'm guessing, an eight year old Amelia. What struck me about the photo was that everyone wore pleasant, happy faces. But none were smiling. Except for Amelia, who had a huge grin plastered on her face. It was as if the photographer had asked them all to keep a straight face, but Amelia couldn't help herself from smiling.

The next photo was of Mr. Darcy and Jeff, sitting on the back of a pick up truck wearing cowboy hats, with Amelia planted in the middle of them. She looked like she was probably three years old at the time. She had the cutest expression on her face. She was puffing out her chest and pressing her pouty lips together, trying to look tough for the camera. However, she failed miserably at it.

Right underneath that photo was another, most likely taken moments later, with Amelia wearing her father's cowboy hat. Her big smile was the only thing peaking out under the big hat. Next to it was what looked to be a four year old Amelia, sitting on cement steps, holding two cute baby chicks. There was a third chick that was sitting on the top of her head.

I hadn't noticed that Mrs. Darcy had walked back in the room with coffee and desserts. She walked over to me and handed me a mug, and noticed that I was looking at that particular photograph.

"Did you grow up in the country?" she asked.

"Yeah, but nothing like this. We didn't grow up near farms or anything like that," I commented.

"Well it can be a blessing and a curse. My children loved the open space, so they always found a way to keep themselves entertained. But every time my back was turned, they'd scurry off somewhere. And I would be left to wonder what mischief they were getting themselves into. Especially Amelia, she was full of surprises," Mrs. Darcy remarked.

"Really?" I asked.

"Oh, yes. I always did my best to keep an eye on her. But somehow she always surprised me with what she would manage to come home with. I remember one time I had thought Katie's mother was watching the girls, and she thought I was watching them. Instead they had been observing Carl throwing pennies into this huge puddle. It was November, and it had been raining for several days. A huge puddle had formed in the Bingley's backyard and Carl, being eight years old at the time, thought throwing pennies into the puddle was the same as making a wish in a fountain. Amelia and Katie were only five, and they watched in total astonishment. They couldn't believe he was throwing away money. When he left, they got into the puddle and started collecting the pennies, believing that they were going to become rich. First they were just walking in it. Then they were kneeling it. Pretty soon they were sitting in it, until they were swimming in it," Mrs. Darcy said with a laugh.

I could believe my ears. Amelia Darcy swimming in a mud puddle.

"There they were, two five-year-olds swimming in a huge mud puddle, in the cold November weather. When I saw her come in the house, happy as a clam I might add with all the pennies she had collected, I was speechless. I'm sure my jaw hit the floor," Mrs. Darcy said with a chuckle.

I laughed, "What did you do?"

"I marched her straight to the bathtub to clean herself up," she replied.

"Didn't you get her in trouble?" I asked.

"No, it was my fault for not knowing where she was or what she was doing. Something a lot worse could have happened to her than that. Plus, I don't think I had ever told her before that day that she shouldn't go swimming in mud puddles," Mrs. Darcy replied with a chuckle.

I laughed again, "What did you mean by what she would manage to come home with? Besides pennies, what else did she find?"

"Oh Amelia was a regular little _Snow White_ with all the creatures she would bring home. I have absolutely no idea how she never got bitten. It started when she was a toddler. All of a sudden, I would see her in a corner playing with something. The moment I would approach her, she would put it behind her back. I would ask her what she was hiding and she would say nothing. I would open up her fingers to find spiders, and any other kind of insect she might've happened to pick up. As she got older, and was able to explore more, she started bringing home animals," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"What kind of animals did she bring home?" I wondered.

"Let me see. She caught a fluffy, gray mouse, which she named _Mickey_, of course. She found a couple of baby birds that had fallen out of their nest. She named those _Tweedle Dee_ and _Tweedle Dum_. Somehow she was able to catch two baby possums. Now those scared me to death. I was so scared that they might have rabies or something. She found them and put them in a cage that we had in the garage. She then brought them in the house to show me. She had this huge smile on her face, and I nearly had a heart attack," Mrs. Darcy commented as she put her hand over her heart.

I just laughed, "What did you do with them?"

"I let her keep them in the garage for a night. But when she went to school the next morning, I took them out into the field where she had found them and let them go. I put the cage back and left the door open, making her think they had escaped. She was so upset because she had already named them," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"What did she name them?" I wondered.

"I remember her calling one of them Posse the Possum, and the other she named after a _Disney_ cartoon. Probably from _Bambi_ or one of the ones that had forest animals in it. I can't remember. I just remember laughing when I heard the names. But I guess the real topper for me, was when I caught her with the lizards," she remarked.

"Lizards!?" I said in astonishment.

"Yeah. The first time I caught her with one, she was only three or four years old. I saw her playing with something in the corner of the living room. That was my first clue. She always played in the corner when she didn't want me to see what she was doing. I walked up behind her and saw she had a small lizard in her hand. I was so shocked. First by the fact that she found one and was playing with it. Second by the fact that she brought it into the house. I told her to give me that lizard this instant. She told me no, that the lizard was her friend. I then tried to use logic with her, and told her that the lizard was going to end up biting her. She then wrinkled her nose and examined the lizard's mouth. She then turned back to me and said it didn't matter, because his teeth were too little anyway. So it wasn't going to hurt. I just shook my head and laughed at my four year old's train of thought," she said with a laugh.

I laughed along with her, "You said lizards. Where'd she get another one?"

"Oh, when she was maybe eleven or twelve, I found her on her hands and knees. Crawling around inside her closet, moving boxes and making a big mess. I asked her what she was doing, and she finally had to admit that she had been keeping a lizard in her room for weeks. And somehow it had escaped and was somewhere in her closet," Mrs. Darcy said shaking her head.

"So Amelia was a tomboy?" I asked.

"No. Does this answer question," Mrs. Darcy said as she pointed to a photo of what looked to be a six year old Amelia. She was pushing around a toy baby carriage, and inside was a cat wearing a dress and baby bonnet. I laughed at the tortured expression on the cat's face.

"Amelia would dress that poor cat up everyday. She would even put underwear on her that she took off of her dolls. But the cat never protested because Amelia was so gentle with her," Mrs. Darcy remarked.

I just laughed at what Amelia put that poor cat through. Though I shouldn't be one to talk since our family dog didn't have it much better. Especially with five boys. When we were little, we would pretend to be cowboys, and we would try to use our dog as a horse.

I spied a picture of Amelia and Karina at the beach. Amelia was probably six or seven years old. Mrs. Darcy noticed the photo I was looking at and said, "Now that was an interesting day. We had gone to California to visit some relatives during the kids Christmas break. It may have been California, but it was a cold winters day. Our relatives took us to Carmel to do some shopping. We parked by the beach and went to walk on the sand. There we were, all in sweaters, Amelia to I might add. She then runs up to me and asks me for her bathing suit. I looked at her and told her she was crazy, that there was no way she was getting in that water. It was way too cold. She then looked at me like I was the one who was crazy. She said something like the only reason you go to the beach is to swim in the water. I told her no, and she said she was going to go collect sea shells with Karina. First they started running from the waves. Then I saw them stick their toes in. I thought that was fine, that they'd feel how cold the water was and that would be the end of it."

Mrs. Darcy started shaking her head and laughing, so I asked, "What did they do next?"

"Pretty soon they were in up to their knees. Then they were swimming, fully clothed, in the Pacific Ocean. I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew I should have gotten them out sooner. But by then, what was the point? They were already fully drenched. The water was so cold, I never thought for one second they'd actually go in. There they were. Splashing and laughing, fully clothed, in the middle of winter. Having the time of their lives," Mrs. Darcy said with a sigh.

"Did you punish her?" I wondered.

"Having to spend the rest of the day in wet jeans, with sand all over the inside, was punishment enough I think. That's what she got for not listening to her mother," she replied.

"I can't picture Amelia being disobedient. She is always so quiet, so serious," I remarked.

"You will not believe how many people have told me that through out the years. So many people have come up to me and complimented me by saying, your daughter is so quiet and well behaved. The first thing I always tell them is you obviously don't know her very well," she replied with a chuckle.

"Really?" I asked.

"Oh yes. Amelia is just like her father. People would always tell me they thought my husband was a serious person, until they got to know him. He always used to say that he could never get mad at Amelia for her antics, because she was just like him. But in my opinion, Amelia is a whole lot worse. She is far too creative, and far too clever. She even says so herself, that if she could only use her brain for good instead of evil," Mrs. Darcy remarked.

"Her antics?" I was confused.

"Yes, Amelia is quite the prankster. I can't tell you how many times she was able to lock her father in the garage, or lock us out of the house. She even managed to handcuff my husband to our dresser. One time, my husband and I were on the roof, and Amelia took down the ladder when we weren't looking. She was rolling on the grass laughing her head off. Good thing my husband had his cell phone," she commented.

"Wait a minute. Cell phone? How old was Amelia when this happened?" I asked.

"Oh, late teens or early twenties. Why?" she asked.

"She was that old and would still play pranks?" I said astonished.

"Honey, she's never stopped. Her grandmother always used to say that this house didn't come alive until Amelia came along. She always filled the house with laughter. The problem was, no matter how mad I was at her for doing something. I could never stop myself from laughing at what she had done. You have no idea how hard it is to punish a child that you find so amusing," she remarked.

"So you two don't get along?" I wondered.

"Quite the contrary. Amelia is my best friend. Mind you, best friends don't always get along. Her father always used to say, you two are buddy, buddy one minute, and at each other throats the next. We would then always proceed to tell him to mind his own business," Mrs. Darcy said with a laugh.

"What do you argue about?" I knew I shouldn't be asking this question, but Mrs. Darcy didn't seem to be hiding anything.

"Oh, things like her reading in rooms that are too dark. I always tell her it will ruin her eyesight, and she says that she heard that it is just a myth. Or I tell her that she should eat a proper breakfast. Amelia's idea of a healthy breakfast is two or three cups of coffee and that's it. She argues with me saying, why should she eat when she is not hungry. I tell her she shouldn't drink so much caffeine because it's bad for her. She says that nowadays everything is bad for you because of pesticides and hormones in foods, so why should she have to cut down on caffeine. You know, stuff like that. Same old arguments," she replied.

"Yeah, I guess all parents argue with their kids no matter what their age," I commented.

"Its just that she is always to busy worrying about other people, that I always feel that she doesn't take proper care of herself. I mean she can be swamped, and someone she loves will call and ask for a favor, and she just can't say no. So she adds that to everything else she already has to do. But she has kind of been that way ever sense she was a child, so some things never change," Mrs. Darcy remarked.

"How so? What was she like as a child?" I wondered.

"When she was little, I would give her money to buy herself something when we went shopping. I would see her selecting things from the shelves, but she would never want me to see what they were. When we would get home, she would go to her room and lock the door. She would come out with these little wrapped presents. She would spend her money, buying us presents. I mean something as simple as a card or a candy bar. But she was always thinking of others. I would tell her that I gave her the money to buy something for herself, to make herself happy. She said giving presents made her happy," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah. Even when we would go on vacation. I would see her buying shirts, hats, mugs, etc. Then we would get back to the hotel room, and she would take inventory saying this is for Katie, and this is for Karina and so on. So many times she would forget to get something for herself," she remarked.

Wow. I had never thought of Amelia as a giving person. But I guess considering everything I've learned about her lately, I shouldn't be surprised that she has a history of putting other needs before her own. We turned our attention back to John and Katie who had polished off their desserts while we were talking. Talk quickly turned to the wedding and to John because Mrs. Darcy wanted to get to know him better. Mrs. Darcy was a very friendly person. In a lot of ways she reminded me of my own mom.

Later, I excused myself to go to the bathroom. When I came back, I stepped into the foyer and heard noise coming from outside. Everyone else was still in the living room, so I walked over and opened the front door to see where the noise was coming from. I saw someone on a dirt bike headed up the driveway. I stepped out onto the porch to get a better look. The driver of the bike had on a black helmet that shielded their face. They wore a black leather jacket that was zipped up, and jeans with mud splattered up to the knees. The driver stopped when they reached the end of the porch. They turned off the bike and dismounted it, and proceeded to take off their helmet. I could not see the person's face because the porch rail was blocking it, and they were at least twenty feet away. The person removed something from the back of their head that unleashed a cascade of curls down their back. The rider then put their hand through their hair and started shaking it out. Probably because the helmet had flattened it. The rider then turned and started walking towards me. What the . . . . I was speechless. I was in shock. It was Amelia. Amelia! Amelia Darcy was just riding a dirt bike!

While she was walking along side the house, Amelia hadn't been aware that I was standing there. All of a sudden, she looked up and saw me. She stopped in her tracks and froze. She was just as shocked to see me as I was to see her. We stood there a couple of seconds staring at each other, not really knowing what to say. Until she finally broke the silence and said, "Hello Michael."

All I could think to say was, "Hi."

She looked down and then back up at me and said, "Please excuse me." She then rushed right past me and into the house. She was obviously not happy to see me, and who could blame her. I stayed on the porch a while longer before I had the courage to go back inside. I only prayed that Katie and John were ready to go back to the Bingleys. I walked in and was surprised not to find Amelia in the living room along with everyone else. Man, she must have really been upset if she didn't greet Katie and John. John looked up and said, "There you are. I was wondering what had happened to you."

"Oh, I was just saying hi to Amelia," I replied.

"Amelia is home? Where is she?" her mother asked.

"I don't know. I had thought that she would have come in here," I replied.

Before anyone else had a chance to ask me another question, Amelia walked in a fresh pair of jeans and a blue fitted T-shirt. She wore a huge smile as Katie stood up to embrace her. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something about her was different. I spent the time observing her while she talked to the others. Had she lost a little weight? Possibly. Was her skin more tan? Maybe. Then it struck me. Her smile. For whatever reason, she had a huge smile on her face. She was also more animated as she talked to Katie and John. What had changed? Who knew a trip to Africa could do such wonders for a person.

The phone rang and Mrs. Darcy asked Amelia to get it. She walked to the corner of the room and picked up the phone and said hello. The room automatically went silent. I don't think we all intentionally meant to eavesdrop, but you know how it is when someone is talking on the phone, you can't help but listen in on the conversation.

"Oh hi bro," she replied as she sat down on a chair and propped her feet up on a side table, while she leaned back. This was not the prim and proper Amelia Darcy I had met months ago. Now she was more relaxed.

"I'm talking to you, what do you mean what am I doing," she said with a chuckle.

"Oh that, same old, same old. Mom is in another one of her drunken stupors," she said in all seriousness.

"Amelia!" Mrs. Darcy yelled.

But she continued, pretending that she didn't hear her mother. She didn't even flinch at the sound of her mother's voice or look in our direction. "Yeah, I came home and found her swinging from the chandelier in her underwear," she said as Mrs. Darcy came over and yanked the phone out of Amelia's hand.

"Give me that!" she said as she snatched the phone away from her daughter. Amelia just lifted her hands up in front of her like she was surrendering.

"Jeff . . . Jeff . . . Jeffery! Stop laughing! That was not funny!" Mrs. Darcy yelled into the phone while glaring at Amelia.

"You told me to answer it," she said as she got up and walked back over to the couch.

Mrs. Darcy started talking into the receiver again, "Jeffery! Are you done laughing yet? I tell you, you and your sister got your father's warped sense of humor," she muttered into the phone.

Katie was laughing and said, "You think your mom would have learned by now, not to let you answer the phone."

"I think she was under the false impression that I actually matured. I don't know why, my dad never did," Amelia responded.

"I know. Remember when he used to call our dorm room, and pretend to be campus security," Katie said as they both started to laugh.

John asked, "What would he say?"

"Oh, he would always use interesting ways to find out if we had boys in our room. He was always messing around. Of course we knew it was him, we'd check the caller ID before we answered," Katie replied.

Amelia continued, "He would say stuff like they had reports of rowdy behavior in our dorm room or something. I would say there is no rowdy behavior going on here. We just have a couple of male strippers over, that's it."

John and I started to laugh, "What would he say?" I asked.

"He would start to laugh and would drop the fake voice he was using. He would then ask how my day was. He just liked to joke around," Amelia finished.

We continued to talk for a while longer, and I was so surprised not to find any hostility between Amelia and myself. I would have thought she would at least try to ignore me, but she didn't. She acted like nothing ever happened. She was happier and more talkative then I've ever seen her before in my life. Mrs. Darcy had gone back to the kitchen to make more coffee, when she came back and stood in the doorway.

"Amelia, I think you better come and see what your son is up to," Mrs. Darcy said as she turned around, and headed back toward the kitchen.

What!? Son? Son!? Amelia has a son? Why didn't anyone ever mention that Amelia had a son?

Amelia groaned and hung her head. She then got up and picked up a couple of dirty dishes off the coffee table, and headed towards the kitchen. I grabbed a couple of dirty mugs and followed her. I wanted to meet her son. As we entered the kitchen, Mrs. Darcy pointed to the floor on our right. There was a small, white, dog dragging a dish towel, with a gray and white cat in hot pursuit. Mrs. Darcy then informed us that the dog had jumped up and yanked it from the counter. Amelia sighed and went and cornered the dog. She picked him up and tried to pry the towel from his mouth.

"Come on you little pirana, just let go!" Amelia told the dog as I laughed.

The dog finally relented and let go of the towel.

"Why do you only consider him my son when he misbehaves?" Amelia asked her mother.

"That's just how life works," Mrs. Darcy said with a smirk.

Amelia turned to the dog and said, "I told you not to bother grandma because she is old, and can't take it."

"Why, thank you Amelia," Mrs. Darcy responded sarcastically, while glaring at her daughter.

"You're welcome," Amelia chirped, with a smile.

"What's his name?" I asked.

"Psycho," she replied.

"Psycho?" I questioned with a laugh.

"Psycho," she repeated.

I continued laughing and said, "And why did you choose to name him Psycho?"

"It was either that or Crack Head," she replied in all seriousness.

"Crack Head?" now I was laughing even harder.

"Yeah," she replied.

"What did he ever do to earn that title?" I asked with a chuckle.

"He's crazy. Hence the name Psycho. He runs around in circles, nonstop, like if he's on drugs or something. I can't tell you how many times he has run full speed into that glass door over there. He spends hours growling and barking at his own reflection in the mirror. He runs so fast on the tile that he loses control and slides, banging himself against the wall. Not to mention his best friend is a cat," she finished.

"Okay, maybe he's not the smartest dog on the block," I remarked as I rubbed Psycho's head.

"It's alright. I love my mentally challenged baby," she said more for the dog's benefit then for my own.

"Your son huh," I said with a smirk, as I continued to pet the dog while she held it.

"Yeah, can't you see the family resemblance? He has my mom's hair color," she said with a smile, while I laughed at what she had just implied.

"Amelia!" apparently Mrs. Darcy heard too, and she wasn't laughing.

"What?" Amelia asked innocently.

Mrs. Darcy just glared at her daughter. She finally spoke, "I think you should go put away that bike of yours. You know it doesn't belong in the driveway."

"Yes, mom," she replied as she headed for the front door.

I followed her outside and she put Psycho down on the porch. I knew it was now or never. We were finally alone and I had to apologize. As we walked down the steps and toward her bike I started, "Amelia I need to apologize to you."

"For what?" she asked suddenly confused.

"For what I said back at Rosings," I started.

She waved her hand in the air and said, "No, that was my fault. I should have never said anything."

"No, I should have never spoken to you like that," I replied.

"No, I should watch what I say. I never meant to offend you. I'm sorry," she replied.

"No, I'm sorry . . ." I started again, but she cut me off.

"Let's just forget about it, alright. It's in the past," she replied. I could tell she didn't want to revisit the memory of that day anymore then I did.

"Okay," I replied, "Can I just ask you one question first?"

"Sure," she responded.

"Why don't you hate me? I mean, why aren't you at least angry with me? In there, you acted like nothing ever happened," I questioned.

"Well, the day I left Rosings, when my plane landed, there were some people I had to call who wanted to make sure I had arrived safely. One of those people was my aunt. When I called, Colleen answered the phone and told me how you had asked for my flight information, because you tried to catch me at the airport. I really had no idea that you would go to so much trouble just to talk to me. I also talked to Karina a few days ago, and she told me how bad you felt about our argument," she finished.

"Oh," was the only thing I could think to say.

I had never been so grateful for Colleen's big mouth in my life. So Amelia had not spent the last month hating me. I wish I had known, so I wouldn't have spent so much time worrying about how I was going to apologize. I walked with her as she put her dirt bike in the garage. Then I noticed an opportunity to change the subject.

"So you own two," I said motioning toward the second dirt bike.

"No, that one belongs to my brother Jeff. He's coming tomorrow. I'm sure he'd like to meet you," she said shyly, obviously afraid of what my response might be.

"I'd like to meet him too," I said as we started to walk back to the front of the house.

John and Katie were coming out of the front door, and said the Bingley's already had dinner waiting for us. We said our goodbyes and walked away. As I got to the end of the driveway, I couldn't help but turn back. I saw Amelia standing on the porch looking at me. She gave me a small wave before she turned and entered the house.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

**Thanks again for the great reviews. I hope you like this chapter :)**

**Author's Notes : Jeff has his own nickname for Amelia. It's Mia. So in this chapter she will be referred to as Amelia, Amy or Mia as well as a couple other nicknames ;) **

**Sorry for not updating sooner. Lately I've had so many ideas for the ending chapters, that I just had to type out all those scenes before I forgot the details I wanted to add. Sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Chapter 9**

It was the day before Thanksgiving, and I woke up at the Bingley home in Pemberley. John, Katie and I hadn't really made any plans for the day. So after breakfast, we went out into the Bingley backyard. The moment we stepped outside we heard music playing. Katie smiled and said Amy was up.

"How do you know it's her?" I asked.

"She always blasts music when she's in the garage. Let's go see what she's doing," Katie said as she headed for the gate.

As we walked up the Darcy's driveway, we saw the garage door was open and Amelia was moving around boxes. She was wearing a red sweater with jeans, and she had her hair in curls. Katie started laughing and said, "She put you to work already?"

Amelia looked up at us, smiled and replied, "Doesn't she always? You know for someone who tells me I work too much, it sure doesn't stop her from giving me chores when I come home."

"What do you have to do this time?" Katie asked.

"She had me put that together for her yesterday," Amelia said pointing to a bookshelf, "Now I'm just arranging stuff on it."

"You put that together!?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Amelia said frowning at the bookshelf, "Does it look crooked or something?"

"No, I just can't believe you built it," I commented.

"Well I didn't build it from scratch. It came in a box, and I just put it together," Amelia replied.

I shrugged, "I guess I never figured you as the hands on type."

"Do you think because I'm a girl I can't read directions?" she asked.

"I never said that. I just never pictured you as the type of person who put things together, that's all," I remarked.

"Well, I've been doing it most of my life. I loved my dad, but he was stubborn. Whenever he bought something that had to be put together, he refused to look at the directions. How hard is it for men to take five minutes to read the directions? He would make things twice as difficult. He would spread out the pieces and just study them. So I would read the directions, and just start to put it together myself," Amelia finished.

John laughed, "That sounds like you Mike. You never want to read the directions."

"Shut up. I'm smart enough to figure it out on my own. I don't need to waste my time reading the directions," I stated.

Amelia opened a cabinet to put a box away and a basketball rolled out. I picked it up and spun it on my finger then handed it to her. "Is this your brother's," I asked.

Amelia spun it in between her two palms and looked at Katie. Katie just smiled at her and Amelia looked back at me.

"You want to play?" Amelia asked with a look in her eyes that I recognized. It was the same look she gave me when she asked me to jog with her.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for this again Darcy. You're a hustler. You're going to tell me you haven't played in a long time. Then I'm going to find out that you were on the women's Olympic basketball team or something," I replied.

"First of all, I'm not a hustler. If I was a hustler, it would mean we made a wager of some kind, which we never did. Second, I haven't played in a long time. And third, I was never on the women's Olympic basketball team. I was only named the MVP in the state championship," she replied in all seriousness.

I swore my jaw hit the ground at her last remark, when I heard Katie start to laugh.

"Mike she's just messing with you. We played for the girl's basketball team in seventh grade. And even then, we lost half of our games," Katie said through her laughter.

I looked back at Amelia and saw she was smirking.

"If your claim is true that you haven't played in a while, and you're not that good, why are you willing to play me?" I enquired.

"I'm not afraid of a challenge," Amelia stated.

"Do you see me as a challenge?" I wondered.

I could tell she wanted to say yes, but she thought about it for a second before replying, "Well I wouldn't say you were a walk in the park."

"Are we still talking about basketball?" John asked, confused by where our conversation was headed.

"Yeah. Okay Darcy, we'll play you," I said pointing to John and myself.

"Great," she replied.

"You don't have a problem with girls against guys?" I asked.

"Nope," she replied in a nonchalant manner, that expressed too much confidence for my liking.

"Want to bet on it then?" I asked. There was absolutely no way these girls were going to beat us.

"Sure," she said nonchalantly.

"What do you want to bet?" I asked Amelia.

"Don't ask her. She'll just suggest having the loser run around in their underwear or something," Katie remarked.

"Now that wouldn't be a bad idea," I commented, giving Amelia a poignant look.

"Knock it off Mike. It's just a friendly game. How about the losers buy the winners lunch? Okay? That sounds fair enough," John interjected.

"Fine by me," Katie replied, and Amelia and I nodded in agreement.

"Wait a second here, this game won't be fair," Katie finally realized, "You and Mike are practically a foot taller then the both of us," she said pointing to Amelia and herself.

"It's okay Katie. We can take them. It's just a game," Amelia told her.

"No, I have a better idea. You and I will be on one team, and Amy and Mike will be on the other," John replied helpfully.

"Oh, that's perfect," Katie said in agreement.

"You want us to be on the same team?" Amelia and I said in unison, and then turned to look at each other.

Katie and John started laughing at our reaction. Then Katie said, "Are you two so eager to compete against each other, that you can't work together?"

I had never thought about it before.

Amelia shrugged and replied, "I don't have a problem playing with Michael."

"Neither do I," I responded, as we both turned to look at each other again.

"Uh, Katie, I think we should just give up now," John commented.

"Why?" she asked.

"Do you see that look they both have in their eyes? We don't even stand a chance," John said with a chuckle.

"You're right," Katie told John then turned to look at us, "Will you two please take it easy on us? You do realize it's only a game?"

"Of course," Amelia replied as I said, "Sure."

"We just need a couple of minutes alone to discuss our strategy," Amelia told Katie and John while pointing at me.

"Strategy?" John asked with his mouth hanging open, "You just agreed to take it easy on us."

"Oh we will," I replied with a smile. I'm sorry, but I hate to lose. And by the looks of it, so does Amelia.

"Excuse us," I said as I guided Amelia down the driveway, and out of hearing range.

"What's your strategy?" I asked.

"Well Bennet, I don't like revealing my strengths and weakness. But Katie has played with me long enough to know. I miss easy shots, when I'm standing next to the basket. But I have a knack to shooting three pointers. I don't know why. Probably because the farther I'm away from the basket, the better chance I have to aim the ball or something," Amelia finished.

"Okay, that's good to know," I said as I started to walk away.

"Wait a second, aren't you going to tell me your weakness?" she asked as I turned back towards her.

"I have no weakness," I replied with a smirk, and she just looked at me with disbelief.

I had no idea playing with Amelia would be so much fun. We clobbered them. John and Katie never stood a chance against us. True to her word, Amelia had a knack for shooting three pointers. And when she was too close to the basket, she would through the ball to me so I would make the shot. The score was twenty to twelve when I scored another shot rasing it to twenty-two.

"Nice shot Bennet!" Amelia said as I gave her a high five.

"Will you look at that. They were ready to draw each others blood when we first suggested playing. Now they're best buds," John told Katie.

"I know. Remind me never to play football or hockey with them. I don't want to end up in the emergency room," Katie replied.

"Hey, there's no need to act like sore losers," I told them as we heard the loud noise of an engine.

I turned around and saw a motorcycle turn into the Darcy's driveway. The person stopped and Amelia ran up to them.

"Hi Shawn," she said as the man took off his helmet. Amelia introduced us all, and turned her attention back to Shawn. Apparently he grew up down the block from them, and he ran into Amelia yesterday. They had started talking about bikes, and Shawn had told her he bought a new one. He had told her he would ride it over today to show her.

"I'm here as promised," Shawn replied.

"Wow, it's really nice. You know this bike has a lot more power then my dirt bike," Amelia said with a big smile on her face, and a twinkle in her eye.

"Here," Shawn said as he handed her his helmet.

Amelia was beaming with excitement. She mounted the motorcycle and was about to slip on the helmet, when we heard shouting from behind.

"Amelia be careful! Don't you dare do anything foolish on that bike!" Mrs. Darcy yelled from the porch.

"Oh, mom. Why would I do something like that?" she said with a huge smile on her face, and a mischievous look in her eyes.

She slipped on the helmet and took off down the road. All of a sudden, she popped a wheelie while Shawn, Katie and John cheered. By that time Mrs. Darcy had walked up to stand next to me and muttered, "That girl never listens. She always does the opposite of what I tell her to do," as we watched Amelia disappear down another street.

"Really?" I asked. This surprised me. She had always seemed so serious. Like a soldier who was ready, willing and able to take orders from their superior. That is how she acted around Mrs. DeBourg. But Mrs. DeBourg was her boss after all.

"Oh yes. I remember once I bought her an art kit. The first thing I told her was not to put any of it on the walls. The first thing she did when we got home was go into her room and lock the door. She emerged a couple of hours later, with a freshly painted mural above her bed," Mrs. Darcy finished.

I couldn't help but laugh. I had no idea Amelia was so rebellious. "Were you mad?" I asked.

"No, it wasn't half bad for a twelve year old," she said.

"No, I mean, weren't you mad that she did what you told her not to?" I asked again.

"No. I knew what was going through her mind, the moment I saw her set eyes on that paint set at the store. That's why I told her not to. And I knew that she would keep her mouth shut, and pretend that she would follow my rule. When in fact, she was keeping her mouth shut so she wouldn't lie to me. She likes to do that. When I tell her not to do something that she is planning to do anyway. She will either not say anything at all, she will change the subject, or she will do what she did right now, act innocent," Mrs. Darcy stated.

"Did you punish her?" I asked curiously.

"No. The best punishment would have been if she hated what she painted. Then she would have wanted it off the wall, and I would have refused to paint over it. But that didn't happen. Instead, every time her friends would come over, they would say how cool the mural looked. So it stayed up there for years," she said as a matter of fact.

Just then Amelia reappeared. She had apparently circled the block. When she reached us she popped another wheelie, holding it up longer this time, and sped off down the street.

"I hate that her father taught her how to ride those things," Mrs. Darcy stated.

"How long has she been riding?" I asked.

"The first time I caught her driving one, she was twelve. But I don't know when he first taught her, that is just when I found out about it. They both weren't stupid enough to tell me that he was teaching her. They both knew I would have put a stop to it. Once I found out about it, I could see that she was quite capable of handling herself. It felt wrong to tell her she couldn't, when she was able to handle the bike just as well as her brother," Mrs. Darcy finished.

"How long has Jeff been riding?" I wondered.

"My husband bought him one of those things when he was sixteen. Though, knowing my husband, I think he bought it more for himself than for my son," she said with a laugh.

"So your husband rode too?" I asked.

"I only allowed him to buy the bike for our son, if he would supervise him every time he took it out. But my husband, being the big kid he was, spent half the time on it himself. And of course, every time Amelia saw them heading out there, she would toddle along after them," Mrs. Darcy remarked.

"Yeah, I noticed there's a big age difference between Amelia and her brother," I commented.

"Yes, ten years. After I had Jeff, I wanted other children but the doctors said it was impossible. They said I would never get pregnant again. When Jeff was little, he would ask me if we could go to the store and buy a baby. He thought you could buy a little brother or sister from a store. Then when he was ten, I found out I was pregnant again. I was so happy, but the doctors advised me to have an abortion. They said it was a high risk pregnancy, and there was no way I could carry the baby to term. They said I would most likely miscarry. They had no hopes for the baby to survive," Mrs. Darcy stated.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes. But I refused to listen to them. I wanted the baby so badly, there was no way I was going to terminate the pregnancy. But I spent my whole pregnancy in tears. Every day I would wake up and wonder if this was the day that I was going to miscarry. The doctors scared us so much that we didn't even set up a nursery. They thought the best case scenario was if Amelia was born premature. But back then they didn't have the medicine and technology they do now. So even if she was premature, she wouldn't have a high chance of survival. So I can't tell you how happy we were when Amelia was born after nine months, and in excellent health," she said with a smile.

"Wow. I guess your son was happy that he finally got the sibling he always wanted," I stated.

"Oh Jeff was ecstatic. The moment I put her in his arms, he christened her 'my little Mia.' He instantly became her protector. When people came over to see the baby and I let them in the nursery, he would get mad at me. He would say what if they have germs and make the baby sick? She's so little she might die. Or what if they wake her up and she starts to cry? When she was older, he would come home from school and see her playing outside. He would pick her up and bring her into the house. He would then tell me not to let her play outside, because someone was going to see how cute she was and take her. Then we'd never see her again," she said with a sigh.

"So they're really close? Even with the age difference?" I asked.

"Yes. As close as they can get. I was very surprised myself. Sometimes to my chagrin actually," she said with a laugh.

"Chagrin?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes. I remember once Jeff was watching Amelia. I thought they were just playing outside, and didn't think anything of it. Amelia was two or three at the time. Later in the day, I saw Amelia's face covered in chocolate. I asked her where she had gotten it from. She said the store. I was in total confusion. My husband wasn't home so I knew he hadn't taken her. So I asked who took her and she said Jeff. She went on to tell me all about her day with such enthusiasm and excitement. That Jeff had put her on the handlebars of his bike, which hurt she said as she rubbed her bottom, and had driven her around town with his friends. They had gone to the railroad tracks and put pieces of metal on the tracks to flatten it. They had gone to the pond to collect tadpoles. They had gone to the big tree and climbed it. And all the boys had helped to carry her up. And they finished their day by going into town to get ice cream. My heart nearly stopped. I knew my son loved his little sister, but I never thought he would take her along with his buddies," she finished.

"That's surprising," I remarked.

"I know. I was completely surprised to see my son's friends playing with her when they came over. They were always giving her piggy back rides, or she would sit on their shoulders. I think they thought of her as their little mascot or something. Jeff's friends are the only people who call her Mia, besides Jeff," she finished.

"So she was always tagging along after them?" I asked.

"Well when she wasn't with Jeff, she was with her father. You see when Jeff was little, he was a mama's boy. He would cry and fuss if I was not in the room. He would give my poor husband such a hard time when he tried to take care of him. So my husband was over joyed when Amelia was born and wasn't like that. He couldn't believe that she would stop crying the moment he would pick her up. It completely overwhelmed him. He became so proud of his parenting skills. I would have to go to the store and he would say to leave the baby with him, that he knew how to take care of her. When she was a toddler, he started taking her everywhere. He would put her car seat in his truck, and take her to the hardware store or to run errands. He said she would just sit there and observe her surroundings, and would occasionally point out things. She became dad's little girl. She had him wrapped around her little finger. She would walk in the room and go sit on his lap. I would see her whispering something in his ear. Then my husband would turn to me and say honey, I'm in the mood for hot chocolate. Amelia would just be leaning her head again his chest, grinning triumphantly. They were incredibly close. They loved each other so much," Mrs. Darcy said with a sad smile.

No wonder Amelia took his death so hard. I love my parents. But with five boys, I hardly ever got to spend any time alone with them. I still don't know how I would react if I lost one of them. Let alone suddenly, and under such horrible circumstances.

Amelia returned and parked the bike in the driveway. She seemed to be on a high after her little ride. I was starting to see her in a whole new light. I'm not sure if I ever knew this woman at all. I was feeling a mixture of emotions. Confusion being one of them. I could not describe what I felt when it came to Amelia. It was so easy to hate her before. But I felt scared to like her now. To like a woman I was attracted to, whom I had treated badly, who was beautiful, educated, wealthy and could have her pick of the countless number of guys that wanted her. If I actually started to like her as a person, I knew I was in danger of growing to care about her. Ugh! This was so complicated!

Shawn said his goodbyes and left, while Mrs. Darcy headed for the grocery store.

"Where should we go for lunch?" John asked.

"Let's go to Jacques'," Amelia suggested.

Katie smiled and clamped her hands together in excitement, while John just shrugged in agreement.

Jacques! Oh great! French food! I hope they don't make me eat snails.

We walked over to the Bingleys and took John's car to Jacques'. When we got there, I was surprised to see that Jacques' was actually an old fashion burger joint. It had a fifties theme to it. It was my kind of place. When we walked in, the older man behind the counter looked up and smiled. He walked around the counter and stretched out his arms as Katie and Amelia stepped into his embrace.

"My girls are home! How are my all-time favorite waitresses? Business has never been the same without you," the man said with a smile.

"Hi Bill," Katie and Amelia replied cheerfully as they embraced the older man.

Bill looked up and noticed us standing there, "Oh, my girls brought their fellas along with them," he said smiling at us.

Katie introduced John as her fiancé, and me as her future brother-in-law. Bill smiled then asked, "And you're dating my Amy?"

"No," Amelia and I both replied at the same time. We both said it a little too quickly and then looked away in different directions. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, John was giving me a curious kind of look. Wondering if there was something going on that he didn't know about. I just ignored him and observed my surroundings as the conversation continued. I could not imagine Amelia working in a place like this. In fact, I couldn't picture her as a waitress. But then again, I never would have pictured her working in Africa or running an after-school program in Cheapside either.

We sat down at a booth and looked at the menus. Once we placed our orders, I looked at Amelia who sat across from me.

"So you used to work here?" I asked.

"Yeah," she told me then turned to Katie.

"When was that?" Amelia asked her.

"The summer we turned 16," Katie replied.

"That's right. I used to break all the speeding limits to get us here on time," Amelia said with a smile.

"I know. Remember your dad gave you that old car, because he was sure it couldn't go that fast. Little did he know that you were driving it at 85 miles an hour," Katie said with a laugh.

"That's a bit of an exaggeration. I never drove that car at 85 miles an hour," she paused for a moment to think, "I think the fastest I went was 82 or 83," Amelia said in all seriousness.

I just laughed, "Is that supposed to be any better?" I asked.

"Yes. You never drove that car. I think the engine would've definitely given out if I attempted to go 85," she said as a matter of fact.

"So did you guys like working here?" John asked.

"It didn't really feel like work," Katie replied.

"Why is that?" I wondered.

"Because it felt like we were getting paid to hang out with our friends," Amelia answered.

"Yeah. Our friends knew we worked here, so they would drop by ever day during our shift," Katie commented.

"That's why Bill says we're his favorite waitresses. He claims his business doubled when we worked here," Amelia continued.

"It's because Amy was friends with a lot of the guys on the football team. So the whole team started coming here every day, after their summer practice sessions," Katie said smiling at Amelia as she shrugged in response.

"They were fun, but they were also the ones who made the biggest mess," Amelia commented.

Just then, a woman walked through the door carrying a baby. Amelia and Katie smiled and got out of the booth.

"Hey Melissa," Katie greeted her.

The woman looked up and smiled, "Hey you guys!"

"And who is this?" Amelia asked smiling at the baby.

"Girls this is Emily. Emily these are mommy's friends Amy and Katie."

They smiled at the baby and we stood up to join them. Katie introduced us, and Melissa mentioned that she was here to pick up some take out. Katie asked if she could hold the baby and Melissa agreed.

"Do you mind watching her for a couple of minutes, while I run to the bathroom?" Melissa asked.

"Sure, go ahead. I'd be glad to," Katie replied.

The moment Melissa left the room, Emily started crying. Katie started bouncing the baby up and down, while John made goofy faces. It only caused Emily to wail even louder. People were starting to stare and Melissa was no where in sight. Amelia turned to Katie and asked, "Do you want me to try?"

Katie was grateful for Amelia's offer. She was relieved to hand over the screaming infant. Amelia held the baby still, opposed to Katie's method of bouncing her up and down, and started talking to her in a low, soft voice.

"Hi Emily. I know you're scared, but your mommy will be back any second. There's no need to cry," Amelia said to her. The baby stopped her high pitch wailing, but continued to cry so Amelia kept talking to her using a low, gentle voice.

"You know, I have known your mommy ever sense she was little. I think she has beautiful eyes. I think you might have the same beautiful eyes that she does. But I can't tell. There are too many tears. I'd like to see what your eyes look like without the tears. You think you can do that? You think you can stop crying long enough so I can see your eyes?" Amelia asked softly.

Emily's cries turned into heavy breathing so Amelia continued, "See I was right. You do have your mommy's big, beautiful, blue eyes. You're such a lucky girl. I just have plain, old, brown eyes."

Emily stopped crying and her eyes were wide open. She was staring intensely at Amelia's face as she spoke to her. I couldn't believe my eyes. I never would have thought Amelia's quiet manner would be more successful then Katie's exuberance, when it came to comforting Emily. Melissa returned and apologized for taking so long. We said our goodbyes as Melissa left with Emily and her take out.

"How did you know the way to get her to stop crying?" I asked Amelia as we returned to our booth.

She shrugged and said, "I used to work with kids."

"And who taught you that trick?" I wondered.

She shrugged again and replied, "No body. I guess I just figured out some things as I went along."

Our order arrived and we had a pleasant lunch. Katie and Amelia relayed all the funny stories they had from working at Jacques'. We laughed so much I never would have believed it. I never thought I could have such a good time with Amelia. The four of us spending time together felt so natural. Like it was meant to be. That kind of scared me. Was Amelia feeling the same way?

After lunch we drove back to the Bingelys. Once we got out of the car, John and I headed for the front door, while Katie and Amelia stood in the driveway consumed by their discussion on floral arrangements. When I got to the front door, I turned back to look at them and saw a man walking up the driveway. He was tall, dark and had a muscular build. Katie and Amelia were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't even notice him. When he was still several feet away, he stopped and yelled out, "Hey Shortcake!"

Amelia quickly turned around and smiled. She ran into his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek before he lifted her off the ground in a bear hug. She buried her head in his shoulder, and he kissed her cheek before putting her back down on the ground. I was taken a back. Who was this guy? It felt like I just had the wind knocked out of me. I had never seen Amelia be so affectionate with any man before. Just then I heard Katie yell out, "Hi Jeff."

Jeff. Jeff! It's only her brother. Why was I so worried there for a second? I let out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding in. I just looked at the two of them. They really didn't look anything alike. Jeff's skin was darker than Amelia's. But then again, he probably works outdoors in the sun a lot. I would have never recognized him based on the photos I saw of him yesterday. All the photos were of a tall, skinny teenager. Jeff was all muscle now, but I guess in his line of work he has to be. As I walked closer to him, I noticed he has their mother's eyes. While based on the photographs I saw yesterday, Amelia has her father's.

Amelia was smiling and introduces us to her brother. As Jeff shook my hand he said, "You're the guitar player right? My sister has told me a lot of really good things about you."

I looked at Amelia and wondered what she could have possibly told her brother about me. "Are you sure you're not mistaking me for my brother Matt? He also plays the guitar," I told Jeff.

"No, she said Mike not Matt," Jeff answered. I looked at Amelia, and she was just staring at her shoes.

"Let's all go back to the house," Jeff suggested.

As we started walking down the driveway, Amelia said to Jeff, "They said on the news that it might snow in a couple of days. Maybe we can go skating on the pond."

He agreed and John started asking Jeff about his job. I started walking alongside Amelia as Jeff, John and Katie walked a couple feet ahead of us.

I took the opportunity to ask, "So Shortcake huh?"

"Oh, I blame Karina for that. When I was little, I loved the _Strawberry Shortcake_ cartoon. And apparently Karina thought I resembled her because of my brown, curly hair. My brother heard her calling me that, and now he calls me that whenever he sees me wearing red or pink," she remarked.

I just chuckled as she shrugged. She didn't seem to be embarrassed by it. As we walked up the steps to the Darcy home, Amelia asked Jeff about the baby. Jeff said he was so excited all morning. He kept asking when he was going to get to play with his aunt. That he had been driving them crazy all day. I found this information interesting. I didn't know Jeff was married and had a baby. No one ever mentioned it. As we entered the house, a tall, blonde woman with blue eyes greeted us. Jeff introduced her to us as his wife Christine, who was six months pregnant. She was very friendly. She smiled at us while she shook our hands.

Just then we heard a young voice yelling, "Mimi! Mimi!" as a little boy ran down the foyer and jumped into Amelia's open arms. The little boy was probably two or three years old, and had a huge smile on his face.

"How's my baby?" Amy asked the little boy.

He frowned and said, "I'm not a baby."

"Sorry," she replied, "I'm the baby, you're the big boy."

The little boy smiled and nodded. He had Amy's button nose and long eyelashes.

"I want you to meet my friends," Amy told the little boy.

He turned to look at us and quickly became shy. He leaned forward and rested the top of his head against Amy's neck.

"Danny, this is Michael and John. And you remember Katie don't you? Aren't you going to say hi?" she asked him.

Amy lifted up one of his little hands, and he wiggled his fingers in a little wave, while he giggled a hi. Then he buried his face in her neck.

"This is my nephew Danny," Amy introduced us.

We all said hi to the little boy, but he just giggled. We all walked into the living room and Danny told Amy that he wanted to wrestle. She said okay and took him into the adjoining family room. The living room and family room were connected by a set of double doors. By the looks of it, Danny had been in there for a while because toys were spread out all over the floor. The rest of us sat in the living room and talked. I couldn't help but look at what was happening in the other room. Amy and Danny's idea of wrestling was really a tickle fight. I couldn't believe my eyes. Amelia Darcy was rolling on the floor, with her curls spread out across the carpet, laughing as Danny tickled her. I don't think I had ever seen her look more beautiful or carefree. Her beautiful laughter was like music to my ears. It was a sight to be seen. Even their dog and cat had gone into the room and were sitting quietly, observing their behavior.

Mrs. Darcy saw me staring at what was happening in the other room and said, "I'm sorry. We're so used to Amelia's lack of volume control that I hadn't notice how loud they had gotten. I'll go tell them to keep it down."

"No, no. That's alright. I don't think they're too loud. I'm just so used to Amelia being so quiet, that I'm just a little surprised to see her act this way," I remarked.

"Quiet? I wish. Quiet is not a word I would use to describe my daughter. Loud, yes. Quiet, no," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"You really think she's loud?" I asked.

"Oh yes. I remember calling her dorm room once. Katie answered the phone, and the moment she did, I heard Amelia screaming at the top of her lungs in the background. I asked Katie what was going on, and she said Amelia was just talking to her friends. Talking to her friends? I asked in confusion. She said yes. Amelia had her head sticking out of their third story window, and was having a conversation with her friends in the courtyard. I just sighed and said, yup that's my daughter. The topper was when Amelia picked up the phone, and I asked her how she was doing. She said she was fine, but she had a sore throat. I just shook my head and laughed. Obviously her sore throat doesn't stop her from yelling out of a third story window. And no wonder she is suffering from a sore throat in the first place," Mrs. Darcy said with a chuckle.

I laughed. That sounded like something Chris and Leo would do. I had a nice conversation with Jeff and Christine. Jeff asked about my work and what I liked to do in my spare time. In return, they told me all about themselves. They are a really nice couple. The whole time we were talking, I couldn't help but sneak glances at what was happening in the other room. I couldn't believe Amelia could be so silly, playful and childlike. I started laughing when Danny insisted that Amy play with his stuffed _Barney_. Amy refused by saying _Barney_ was annoying. A little while later, Amy came walking into the living room with Danny in her arms.

They were headed for the foyer when Mrs. Darcy asked, "Where are you going?"

"We're going to get some cookies," Danny said with enthusiasm.

"Cookies!?" Mrs. Darcy and Christine said at the same time.

"No, you don't. You're going to ruin his appetite," Mrs. Darcy declared.

"Cookies?" Amy said acting all innocent, "The kid's delusional. It must be all that _Barney_ and _Teletubbies_ that he watches. Right?" she said as she looked at Danny.

Danny nodded, smiled and said, "Ugh huh," having absolutely no idea what he was agreeing with.

Amy proceeded toward the kitchen, while her mother yelled out not to give him any cookies. Amy responded by yelling back a, "Yeah."

I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, I went into the kitchen. There was Danny sitting on the counter, with Amelia standing in front of him so he wouldn't fall, and they were both eating cookies. I walked up behind her.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I asked.

"Here, have a cookie," Amy said as she handed me one.

After I took a bite she continued, "Now you can't say anything because you're just as guilty as I am."

"Hey wait a second here, you just gave me the cookie," I replied.

"And you should have known better. Right Danny?" she asked him.

He absentmindedly nodded and said, "Ugh huh." I have a feeling that he would respond that way no matter what question she asked.

We finished the cookies and went back to the family room. I spent the rest of the day playing with Amy and Danny. I have to say he's a really cute kid. We played _Hungry, Hungry Hippo_ and then Danny declared himself the winner. I asked him why, since Amy and I both ate more marbles then he had. He thought about it for a second and said it was because we cheat. We both laughed at his response, and Amy whispered in my ear that Danny did not like losing. That makes two of us. Later, Danny wanted to see his _Sponge Bob _video, so I went back into the living room and started talking to Jeff.

I found out Jeff worked for the Ramsgate Fire Department and that they lived thirty miles away from Meryton. We talked about all kinds of things. My family, his childhood, Pemberley. Somehow we started talking about our high school days, and I remembered seeing the photos of Amelia with the homecoming king. So I causally brought up the subject. I wondered what Jeff thought of her old boyfriends.

Jeff started laughing and shook his head, "Mia has never introduced me to any of her boyfriends. She was too afraid that I'd might try to scare them off."

"You don't want your sister to date?" I asked innocently.

"Well, when she was a teenager the thought was never very appealing to me. It's hard to think of my little sister like that. But now that I see her with Danny," we both looked toward the other room and saw them sitting on the floor, Danny was on her lap using her body as a recliner. "I know she will be a wonderful mother one day. I can't help to imagine my little sister with a baby of her own. I want Danny to have some cousins to play with. And I know the only way that is going to happen. Now that she is an adult, I know she can take care of herself. But it doesn't stop me from worrying about her. It would be comforting to know she has a husband to come home to. Who would be there to look after her. I'm not saying it wouldn't be hard though. Ever since she was born, I have always been the guy in her life. I've been her protector, and the guy she could count on. I know it would be hard to let someone else step in, and take that place in her life," he remarked with a hint of sadness.

Just then, Amy walked into the room and saw us sitting together. She asked us what we were talking about. I said, "Your brother was just telling me how he was always looking out for you when you were little."

Amy started laughing and said, "I'm sure he conveniently forgot to mention how he would grab me by the ankles, and dangle me over the toilet. Threatening to flush my head in, if I didn't do as he said."

I was shocked but started laughing.

"Now Mia, no need to divulge our family secrets. We don't need everyone to know about my powers of persuasion," Jeff responded.

Amy was still laughing, "How about when you would stuff me in dresser drawers. Or when you would stick me in the cubby holes of the linen closet. Or when you told me . . ."

Jeff cut her off, "Okay, I know how to shut you up." He stood up and had a wicked smile on his face.

Amy put both hands in front of her and started to back up. She was still laughing when she said, "I swear Jeff, if you touch me, that baby," Amy pointed to Jeff's pregnant wife, "will be the last child you will ever be able to produce," as Amy lifted her foot ready to kick him in a delicate area.

Jeff only laughed at her threat. She turned to run but he grabbed her in a backward bear hug. He used one of his arms to restrain both of hers, and used his other hand to rub his knuckles over her head. She screamed in pain, and we all laughed at them. Mrs. Darcy rushed into the room after hearing all the commotion. Jeff let go of his sister and Mrs. Darcy address her.

"Amelia really! You know better then to scream like that in front of company! Act your age!" Mrs. Darcy told her daughter.

Amy scoffed in disbelief and pointed at Jeff with her mouth still hanging open. But Mrs. Darcy just turned around and went straight back into the kitchen. Jeff was just laughing at the fact that his sister had gotten all the blame.

"Mama's boy gets away with everything," Amy muttered.

"What did you just call me?" Jeff asked.

"Mama's boy!" Amy replied.

"Oh that's it," Jeff said as he started towards Amy again.

This time Amy ran the other way and plopped herself down next to Christine, wrapping her arms around her pregnant belly, using her as a shield.

"Mia, hiding behind a pregnant woman?" Jeff asked in amusement.

"I would defend myself, but we have company. I wouldn't want them to witness any bloodshed," Amy replied.

"No, go right ahead I'm used to it," Katie replied enjoying the show in front of her, "John is going to be part of the family too. So he should know what to expect."

"Christine, you're not going to let him maim your favorite babysitter are you. You know the one that works for free. Especially now, with another one on the way," Amy asked her sister-in-law.

"She right. Leave your sister alone," Christine told her husband. Amy smiled triumphantly.

"Oh come on, she can take it," Jeff replied with a smile.

"You think that someone who is almost 40 would have grown up by now," Amy retorted.

"Almost 40!" Jeff repeated incredulously, as he started walking towards her again.

"Danny! Danny! Come here!" Amy called out.

Danny came walking into the room holding his stuffed _Barney_. Amy put both her arms out and he went running into her embrace. "You'll protect me, won't you?" Amy asked him.

Again he nodded absentmindedly and said, "Ugh huh."

"Trying to use my own son against me," Jeff said shaking his head.

"Anything you do to me, he's going to do to his new brother or sister," Amy pointed out.

Jeff conceded and finally left Amy alone. Danny continued to sit on Amy's lap, facing her. He started playing with her hair with his left hand, and was sucking the thumb on his right. Danny would grab one of Amy's curls and would stretch it out. He would then let it go and watch it spring back up to its original form. He then rested his head on her shoulder and started twisting her curls around his fingers. Pretty soon his eyes slowly started to close and he fell asleep.

Amy went upstairs to put Danny down for his nap, and the rest of us continued our conversation. I got a greater insight on Amy's personality. Jeff happened to mention that Amy was really funny. Again, I was surprised to hear more people use that word to describe her. I had laughed at a few things she had said, especially since I arrived at Pemberley. But Jeff described her as having the ability to get a whole room full of people in stitches.

"Remember the time she called my dad an old buzzard," Jeff said to Katie as they both started laughing.

I couldn't see how Amy calling her father names was so funny.

"What's so funny about that?" I asked.

"Well, when Mia was a teenager, she was always saying the word dude," Jeff started.

"Dude? Really?" I couldn't imagine the prim and proper Amelia Darcy using the word dude in her vocabulary.

"Yeah. Anyway, one day my dad started making fun of her because of it. At one point he called her dude, to which she responded that she wasn't a dude, she was a chick. My dad started laughing and said you're more like a turkey because you're way past the expiration date to be considered a baby chick," at that point Jeff was laughing so much he couldn't continue.

So Katie finished, "That's when Amy replied, well if I'm a turkey, I guess that makes you an old buzzard."

I started to laugh and noticed Amy had come back downstairs. She absentmindedly ran her fingers over the keys of the piano, as she walked by it. Mrs. Darcy saw her and told her to play something classic for them.

"Something classic? Okay, I'll play something classic for you," she said with a smile and a mischievous look in her eye.

Amy took out a music book and started flipping through the pages. When she started playing, I recognized the melody, but knew I had never heard it played on a piano before. I just could not put my finger on what song she was playing, but I knew that I had heard it before. Katie was near by and I saw her giggling. I asked her what was so funny.

"Don't you recognize the song she is playing? Anne told her to play something classic. So she's playing **_Bon Jovi's_** _Livin' On A Prayer_."

She was right. That was the song. Well it was definitely a classic, but I don't think it was what Mrs. Darcy had in mind. When she finished, she got up and I walked towards her.

"I didn't know you played the piano," I remarked.

"I don't," Amy replied.

"Oh really? So what was that?" I asked.

"That was called teaching myself to play a couple of songs. Jeff is the piano player. He's really good at it. He took lessons for years, but he really doesn't like to play in front of people anymore. I think it's because he hasn't practiced in along time. So he thinks he's rusty, but he isn't," she finished.

"You taught yourself a few songs?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, it wasn't that hard. I took clarinet lessons, so once I knew how to read music it wasn't that difficult. I just picked up a couple of my brother's piano books, and read which keys corresponded to which notes. That book I just used is for beginners. Each note has the letter printed on it. You know A, B or C. So it's like cheating. Anyway, when I was teaching myself I just chose a song and practiced it. That was the key, I just practiced it over and over, and over again, until I knew the keys by memory. That is not knowing how to play the piano. Jeff knows how to play the piano. You can put any piece of sheet music in front of him, and he can play it for you. I would have to get out all my books and look up all the notes, and practice the song for weeks before being able to play it," she remarked.

I was impressed. She played the song very well, and she had taught herself. She was never given lessons. That said a lot about her determination, to be able to sit down and teach herself something.

"So you play the clarinet then?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

She laughed, "Yeah, I play one mean _Mary Had A Little Lamb_, and _Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star_."

"Well I wouldn't mind hearing it," I said with a smile.

"Well, I guess it's fortunate that I left my clarinet back in Meryton then. But you, on the other hand, can play for us," she responded.

"Well I also left my guitar at home," I replied.

"Oh I can fix that," she said as she turned and walked away.

While she was gone, Christine persuaded Jeff to play the piano for us. Amelia was right. Jeff was really talented. When Amelia came back, she had two guitars with her, an acoustic and an electric.

"Which do you prefer?" she asked me.

"Where did you get these?" I asked with my mouth hanging open.

"They were my dad's," she replied.

"Your dad knew how to play?" I asked in astonishment.

"Well, actually, he only knew how to play one song, _Brown Eyed Girl_. Other then that, he would just play around with different keys trying to find a melody. He always hoped to write his own song one day, but he never got the chance," she replied.

I was so touched. I couldn't believe she would allow me to touch her father's guitars.

"I can't play these. They belonged to your dad. They're special," I stated.

"Exactly. That is why you are the only one I trust to use them," Amelia replied.

I was speechless. I couldn't believe she trusted me that much. Especially after everything I said to her in the past.

"So what are you going to play for us?" She asked with a smile.

"I don't know. What do you want me to play?" I replied.

"You choose," she said.

The only song that came to mind was the song she had just mentioned, which was _Brown Eyed Girl_. I couldn't look at her while I played. I knew I would lose my nerve the moment I looked into her eyes. So I mostly looked down at the floor while I played. When I finished, I looked up at Amy's brown eyes and saw they were glossed over with unshed tears. But she was smiling. I saw a few tears rolling down Mrs. Darcy's cheeks, and she came over and hugged me.

"I can't tell you how wonderful it was to hear that song again," Mrs. Darcy told me.

Somehow, in that instance, I felt truly accepted by their family. Like I would always be welcomed there with open arms. And I have to say it felt really good.


	11. Chapter 10

**_Appearances May Often Deceive_**

**Thanks again to everyone that reviewed. I love hearing your comments and what you think about the characters. And your pleas for a new chapter are constantly on my mind. So don't think I have been ignoring any of you :) **

**I hope this chapter was worth the wait. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Chapter 10 **

It was Thanksgiving day, and I was really glad that I had accepted Katie's invitation to come to Pemberley. I never expected I would have such a good time. It was Thursday morning and Mrs. Bingley was cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Katie was helping her. John and I really didn't have anything to do. Heidi, Louis and Carl were due to arrive later on in the afternoon. So John and I headed over to the Darcys to watch football with Jeff. He had invited us to watch the game with him, as we left their house the night before. When we knocked on the door, Jeff greeted us and took John into the kitchen to get some snacks. He told me to just go to the family room and make myself comfortable.

When I walked into the family room, I found Amelia slumped on the couch. She looked tired. She was wearing an oversized, hooded, gray, Ramsgate Fire Department sweatshirt, that was zipped up the middle. It obviously belonged to Jeff because it looked really baggy on her. But she looked very comfortable in it. She had straightened her hair again, and was wearing jeans. She also had her sneakers prompted up on the coffee table. I walked over and sat down next to her.

"You don't look very happy," I mentioned.

"Danny woke me up at six o'clock in the morning, to watch his stupid _Barney_ video tapes," she mumbled.

I laughed as she responded, "It's not funny! I swear if I ever find the idiot who created that stupid, freaking, purple dinosaur, I'm going to strangle him!"

I just laughed even harder.

"So where is Danny anyway?" I asked through my laughter.

"He's playing with Psycho in the kitchen, while my mom and Christine cook," Amy answered.

"Why aren't you in there cooking with them?" I asked innocently.

"Are you trying to say a woman's place is in the kitchen?" she asked glaring at me.

I knew I had better watch how I answered her. I didn't want to start another debate.

"No. Some women are horrible cooks," I replied.

"So now you're saying I'm a horrible cook," she accused.

Oh shit! How did I dig myself into this whole?! I didn't know what to say. Then I noticed she had a huge smile on her face. She was messing with me again! Damn! I always fall for it!

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist. You should have seen the expression on your face! It was priceless!" Amy said through her laughter.

I just shook my head. This woman was going to be the death of me.

"You know you're really wasting your skills in the business world. You really should have been a lawyer. Better yet, a high stakes poker player in Vegas. I've never met anyone who could lie and keep such a straight face," I commented.

"I know. My dad always said I had the ability to win an academy award one day. My parents always fell for my B. S.," she said proudly.

"How are you able to keep such a straight face, while you're lying through your teeth?" I wondered.

"It's a gift," Amy replied with a smile and a sigh.

"Again, without meaning to offend you, may I ask why you are not helping out in the kitchen?" I wondered.

"I'm not in the kitchen because I'm in charge of setting the table, and cleaning up after dinner," Amy replied.

"Oh," I remarked.

As we quieted down, I heard a strange noise coming from Amelia. I had absolutely no idea what it was. Was her stomach growling? Was she wheezing?

"Do you have a cold?" I asked her.

She smiled and replied, "Why? Do I sound congested?"

"Well, no," I said with a frown.

"Why? Do you hear something?" she said with a knowing look.

"Yeah," I replied hesitantly and confused.

"Maybe this will shed some light on what you're hearing," she said as she slowly unzipped her sweatshirt.

Whoa! What was she doing!?

Amelia unzipped her sweater to reveal her cat was sleeping on her stomach, purring. I hadn't even noticed because the sweater was so baggy on her. Besides, the cat wasn't that big because it wasn't fully grown yet. The cat was laying on its back, and it looked like it was stretched out on a bed. It looked so funny. It was a white cat with gray ears, legs, nose and tail. Amelia, unfortunately, was wearing a white tank top underneth the sweater. Damn!

"She just jumped on top of me and got comfortable," Amelia announced, "I zipped her up and she didn't care."

I reached over and rubbed the cat's head. She instantly let out a huge yawn and stretched all four of her legs straight up in the air. She looked really funny until she stopped stretching and opened her eyes. The cat proceeded to give me the dirtiest look imaginable as she stood up on Amy's stomach. With her eyes, she was chastising me for daring to wake her and interrupting her precious sleep. She stretched one more time before she jumped off of Amelia's stomach and onto the floor. She then sauntered away with her tail straight up in the air.

"Well I guess I just made an enemy," I commented.

"She'll get over it. She's just not a morning person," Amelia replied as I smiled.

We just sat there looking at each other for a moment before I broke the silence.

"So, if you have to set the table and clean up afterwards, what does Jeff have to do?" I asked changing the subject.

"Nothing, the lucky bastard," she replied.

I laughed, "Why don't you guys force him to help?"

"There's a reason why we don't let him anywhere near the kitchen," Amy remarked.

"Oh, really. Why's that?" I asked.

"We value our health," she replied as I laughed.

"His cooking can't be that bad," I said.

"Oh really. Did you know they've banned him from setting foot in the kitchen at the fire station? Once he made them spaghetti. It proceeded to make everyone in the department sick. They were all fighting to get to the bathrooms!" Amy finished.

"What could he have possibly done to make the spaghetti so deadly?" I asked through my laughter.

"I don't know. But one of the guys told me, he had seen him throw tons of spices in the spaghetti sauce," Amy continued.

Amelia and I just sat there laughing as we looked into each other's eyes. Somehow we had managed to lean against each other, so our shoulders were touching. We weren't aware that we were being watched until someone cleared their throat. We looked toward the doorway and saw Jeff and John standing there, eyeing us suspiciously. Jeff probably thought I looked a little too comfortable with his baby sister. While John was probably mulling over all my previous claims of hating Amelia. You think we were two little kids caught doing something bad, by the looks our older brothers were giving us.

"So why aren't you two watching the game?" Jeff asked with an arched eyebrow.

We both just smiled and shrugged.

"You haven't even turned on the TV," John announced.

We didn't have anything to say to that, so we just continued to smile and shrugged again. They just continued to eye us as they came over and sat down on the other couch. Throughout the game, I would sneak glances at Amy. Every time I did, I noticed Jeff and John were staring at me. They both seemed curious as to what was going on. What was going on? Nothing, right? We were just having a good time. Maybe becoming friends even. That's it. No big deal. So why won't our older brothers stop looking at us like that?

A little while later, Jeff left the room for a little bit to help retrieve a dish from a high shelf for Mrs. Darcy. When he came back he asked what he'd missed.

"5 yards, second down, at the thirty-yard line," Amelia said without taking her eyes off the screen.

I was astonished! I hadn't really been aware that Amy was watching the game. I thought she was just sitting there to keep us company.

"I didn't know you watched football," I told her.

"I really try not to," she replied.

"Why?" I asked with a frown on my face.

"Because I get way too involved in the game. I start yelling at the screen. I can feel my blood pressure rising when they start screwing up. I just know I'm going to give myself a heart attack one day because of it. So I try my best not to watch," she said in all seriousness.

"You're not yelling now," I noticed.

"Only because the Meryton Militia aren't playing. They're the only football team I root for," Amy said with a smile. I just sat there gazing at her. When she smiled her eyes no longer looked intense. Instead they softened and sparkled. How this woman amazed me. Everyday I learned something new about her. Something that surprised me. Had she always been this way, and I just never noticed? Through the corner of my eye I saw Jeff and John staring at us again. So I turned my attention back to the game.

A little while later we heard Mrs. Darcy call out, "Amelia honey!"

"She wants something," Amy told me.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I'm only Amelia honey, or Amelia sweetheart, when she wants me to do something for her," Amy replied.

"Amelia sweetheart," Mrs. Darcy said as she came to stand at the doorway. Amelia gave me a quick glance as I smirked.

"Will you please run to the store before they close? I forgot to pick up a couple of things that Christine needs for the dishes she is making," Mrs. Darcy finished.

"Are you sure they're open today?" Amelia asked.

"They'll be open for another hour," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"Okay," Amy said as she got up.

"I'll go with you," I announced as I got off the couch.

My proclamation earned two more curious stares from Jeff and John. Amelia also seemed a little surprised that I would volunteer to go with her. But she just turned and headed for the foyer. She changed her coat and Mrs. Darcy handed her a list as she grabbed her purse and a set of keys.

When we got to the front door, we saw their cat was laying down right in front, blocking it. I would've just pushed the cat out of the way with my foot. But Amy didn't. She stopped, looked down and spoke softly, "Will you please move your furry little ass so we can leave?"

The cat obliged, but Mrs. Darcy apparently heard her and asked, "What did you just say?"

Amy thought about it for a second and then said, "I asked the cat to move her furry butt so we could leave," in all sweetness and with a smile.

Mrs. Darcy just glared at her daughter and then walked back toward the kitchen. I was surprised.

"I've never heard you cuss before," I remarked as we stepped out onto the porch.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you," she replied.

"Oh, I'm not offended. I thought it was funny actually," I said, "I just never thought I'd hear something like that come out of your mouth."

"I don't know why? You seemed pretty shocked when I joked about looking up porn," she commented.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," I said with a chuckle.

"I should really stop doing that. I'm going to be responsible for killing someone one day," Amy commented.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When you started choking on your coffee. After you heard me joking around with Carl," she replied.

I grimaced, "Please don't remind me. I looked like a total idiot."

"It wasn't you. It was me. I've done that to my mom several times. Only a couple of times it was unintentionally," Amy remarked.

"Done what?" I wondered.

"Say shocking things for the sake of a laugh when people are eating. I've made my mom choke on or spit out her coffee a few times. I should really grow up. I know how immature it is to find amusement from people reacting to the things I say. I just can't help it. My parents have only encouraged my bad behavior throughout the years anyway," she replied.

"How's that?" I wondered.

"Because they would always laugh at the inappropriate things I would say. Especially my dad. He thought I was really funny. But after they finished laughing, they would always tell me that I shouldn't say such things. I would always ask, if I shouldn't say such things, then why were you laughing?" Amy answered.

"Oh, what kinds of things would you tell them?" I asked.

"Oh, anything to get a reaction out of them. I know it's immature. I remember once my dad gave me this little, bronze sculptor of a woman and child. My mom happened to be drinking some iced tea when I was thanking him. I said thanks dad, it's really nice. Then I paused and said, to bad the sculptor isn't of a naked man. My mom spit out her tea and started choking with laughter. My dad laughed so hard a tear came out of his eye. Then they told me to stop saying things like that because the shock could give them a heart attack," she finished.

I laughed at her story.

Amy continued, "I guess I just have a weird sense of humor. But I'm not the only one. Jeff has it too. I won't dare repeat some of the things he has told me. Then he has the nerve to act all shocked by some of the things I say. When he says things that are ten times worse!"

I walked up to her _BMW_ convertible. Then I noticed her walking towards a huge, dark blue, pick-up truck. I was surprised to say the least. I never would have imagined her driving a big truck like this before. I couldn't help but mention it when we got inside.

"It was my dad's. I always drive it when I come home," Amy said. I could detect a little sadness in her voice.

"Oh," I replied, wishing I had never brought up the subject.

Realizing I felt a little awkward for bringing up the subject of her father, she tried to lighten the mood by putting a smile on her face and saying, "I love to drive it. Just being in it reminds me of him. He used to take me everywhere."

All I did was smile. I was so afraid of saying something stupid. We had never gotten along so well and I didn't want to ruin it. Amy started the truck and _Aerosmith_ started to play. I noticed it was a CD. I couldn't believe my ears! Amy listened to _Aerosmith_!

"You listen to _Aerosmith_?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yeah, why? Don't you like them?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I like them. But I thought you listened to opera?" I asked.

"So?" she said with a frown.

"I guess . . . I just never thought that someone who liked listening to opera . . . would also like rock," I commented.

"Well if you think about, they are similar," Amy replied.

"How can you say that?" I asked in confusion.

"Well, they both have people singing at the top of their lungs, to really loud music," Amy said with a smile.

"Huh. I guess I never thought about it that way," I remarked.

We spent the rest of the drive talking about our favorite bands. I had no idea we had similar tastes in music. We got to the store and saw it was filled with last minute shoppers. We went to the baking section and Amelia started picking some items off the shelves.

"Is there anything I could get?" I asked, trying to be helpful.

"Um, you can get the corn meal. It should be right down there," she said as she looked up from the list and pointed.

I walked several feet down the isle to fetch the corn meal and turned back. I was amused to see Amelia bending over to grab something from the bottom shelf. I just stood there admiring the view, when I noticed a man walk up behind her, doing the same thing.

"Man, that's one fine ass," the man said as he let out a low whistle.

Amelia stood back up to her full height. Oh, this guy's gonna get it. There is no way Amelia's going to let this guy get away with talking to her like that. This should be good! I just stood back and waited for Amelia's reaction. She turned around and had a huge smile on her face as she said, "Jaime!" and walked over to give him a hug. The guy gave her a kiss on the cheek as he embraced her. I just stood there stunned. Who was this guy?

As Amelia stepped back to look at him, she said, "Should I be alarmed that you can recognize me based on my ass?"

"Of course not. No one looks better in a pair of jeans then you," the guy replied.

Now that I had a better look at the guy's face, he seemed familiar. How? I knew I'd never met him before. Why do I feel like I remember him from somewhere? Why does the sight of Amelia in his arms seem so familiar? Then it struck me. It was the homecoming king! Amelia's old boyfriend!

The guy finally looked over at me and saw me staring at them.

"So who's the guy?" he said motioning towards me with his head, since he still held Amelia in his arms. "New boyfriend? I hope I haven't been replaced," he said as he let go of her and put his hands over his heart, pretending to be wounded.

"No, like anyone could ever replace you," Amy said smiling at him. "This is Michael Bennet. Michael this is Jamie Stephens."

"Hi, nice to meet you," I said as I shook the man's hand. Okay, I admit that I could have loosed my grip just a little.

He gave me a smile and a funny look, like if he had just realized something, "So how long have you two been dating?" he asked.

"Oh no, he's not my boyfriend," Amy replied.

I knew it was the truth. But, I don't know why those words stung just a little. I mean, I know Amy doesn't belong to me. We've never even been out on a date. So why was this bothering me so much?

"Michael's brother is engaged to Katie," Amy continued.

"Oh, so he's practically part of the family. Well then, we should celebrate. Get to know each other better. After all, once they get married, they'll be inheriting all of us," Jaime said as he put his arm around Amy.

Okay, I don't know why, but I really don't like this guy. He obviously hadn't seen Amy is some time. That was evident. Yet he acted like he could just step in, and resume whatever part he had played in her life in the past. With no regard for the fact that she might have moved on with her life, or with someone else. Yet there was Amy, smiling in agreement. Then again, why shouldn't she? I had basically rejected her. Why wouldn't she move on, or try to reconnect with a past love?

"We're going to O'Malley's tonight. You going to be there?" Amelia asked Jaime.

"Of course! It's tradition! I wouldn't miss it," Jaime replied.

Just then there was an announcement over the loud speaker, that the store would be closing in 15 minutes for the Thanksgiving holiday. We said our goodbyes to Jaime, and he kissed Amy on the cheek again. Did I mention that I really did not like this guy? We drove back to the Darcys without saying a word. I had turned the volume up on the radio, the moment we got in the car. I didn't know what to say. When we got back, John was ready to leave. I was so relieved. I felt awkward. I didn't know where I stood with Amy. Especially now that her old boyfriend was back in town.

When we walked back to the Bingleys John asked, "So what's up with you and Amy?"

"Nothing," I replied.

"Really? Cause it didn't look like nothing, when you were sitting on the couch together," John remarked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I told him.

"You two sure looked comfy together," John said with a knowing look.

"We were just talking," I replied.

"I thought you said you hated her," John continued.

"Do you want me to go back to hating her?" I asked him.

"No," he replied.

"Well then, leave me alone," I told him as we walked into the Bingley's home.

Around eight o'clock that night, after we ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Bingleys, we got ready to spend a night out on the town. Apparently it was a tradition for the Bingley and Darcy children to go out to a place called O'Malley's, since it was the only place open on holidays. Carl had shown up with Louis and Heidi, right before dinner was served. He had been so excited about going out tonight, until Katie mentioned that Jamie was going to be there. Then he started sulking and refused to go. He said, "What's the point in going now! Jaime's going to be there and is going to monopolize all of Amy's time."

Wow. Carl has never given up without a fight. He is obnoxiously persistent. You think he would go just to put a wedge between Amelia and Jamie. But if he is giving up without a fight, then Jaime is obviously no competition for anyone. Amy must really prefer him to anybody else. Suddenly, I wasn't in the mood to go either. I really did not want to see Jaime make the moves on Amelia. And I didn't want to see Amelia happy about it. But the alternative, staying home with Carl and his parents, was even worse. So I went.

Amy had walked over from the Darcys, since she was the only one of them going. Jeff chose to stay home with his pregnant wife. Christine was tired from the day's events and chose not to come. We decided to take John's S. U. V.. I made sure to jump in the front seat before Katie had a chance. I knew it was a really stupid move, considering neither John nor I knew how to get to O'Malley's. But I didn't want to sit next to Amy. So Katie had to keep yelling directions from the backseat.

When we got there, we found a corner table. I saw Amy move to sit on the bench that was along the wall, so I sat myself on the opposite side of the table, as far away from her as possible. Within a couple of minutes, Jaime spotted us and plopped himself down right next to Amy, putting his arm around her. Did I mention that I really did not like this guy? Anyway, he introduced himself to John, congratulated him and Katie on their engagement, and said hi to everyone. I just responded with a, "Hey," and stayed quiet. I was too busy looking at a couple of idiots trying to sing karaoke. Apparently this was supposed to last another half-hour until the dancing started. I really could not care less about what they were talking about, so I completely ignored them. That was until John elbowed me in the ribs. "Hey!" I yelled at him, "What was that for?" I asked while rubbing my side.

"Jaime just asked you what you did for a living," John replied. I turned to see everyone at the table looking at me expectantly. I guess I must have really zoned out.

"Oh, uh, I'm uh mechanic," I replied as I turned back to look at the singers.

"Oh, do you have any hobbies?" Jamie asked. Man, he just couldn't take a hint. Or he was trying to find a way to embarrass me the way Carl always does.

"No," I said flatly. John gave me a warning look, letting me know not to act like a jerk.

"Michael plays the guitar," Amelia piped in with a smile.

"I'm really not that good," I replied.

"He's being modest. He is really good. He sings too," Amelia told Jaime.

"Really? I'd like to hear you sing," Jaime told me. Now I was getting mad.

"No thanks. Like I said, I'm not that good," I said in a calm voice.

"He's lying. He's great. Why don't you sing?" Amy said pointing to the people singing karaoke.

Now I was mad. I hate it when people try to push me into something I don't want to do. And I don't want to provide the entertainment for Amelia and her boyfriend. So I fought back.

"No, I sang last night. Why don't you sing?" I asked Amelia.

"Me? I don't know how to sing," she said with a confused look on her face.

"Amy we sing all the time," Katie piped in.

"Katie, screaming along to _Aerosmith_ is not what I call singing," Amy told her.

"Oh come on," I said, "How bad can you be?" I said with a smirk.

"I can't sing," Amy said flatly.

"What? Are you scared?" I asked. Okay, I know I was acting like a five year old. But it's not like I was about to call her a chicken. If anything, I know that Amelia does not backdown from a challenge. So I was just giving her a little push.

"No, I'm just not into public humiliation, or making a public spectacle of myself," Amy replied. I could tell she was getting angry.

"Since when? Remember the time when you . . ." Jaime started with a laugh, but was cut off with Amy putting her hand over his mouth, laughing.

"Don't you dare! Or I'll tell everyone about . . ." she then leaned over and whispered something in his ear.

"Alright, alright! Geez, I'm just saying that you have quite a pair of lungs on you, and I should know. Especially since I have witnessed it first hand on many occasions," Jamie said with a knowing smirk. At least he didn't wiggle his eyebrows. Did I mention that I really hate this guy? I don't even want to know. I don't even want to guess what he meant by that. If only they sold mental bleach, I could use to get his words out of my head.

Amy put her hands over her face, and was shaking her head. "Yeah, come on Amelia! We'd all like to hear those set of lungs," I said with a smile.

"You want to hear my lungs? Well I could always . . ." Amy started but was cut off by Katie.

"Amy! You don't have to get mad. He just wants to hear you sing," Katie said trying to be diplomatic.

"I don't sing," Amy said seriously.

"Amy, you know I would never push you into something you don't want to do," John started, "But you know Mike, when he puts his mind to something he can be quite . . . determined. It might be less painful to get up and sing, then having to listen to my brother all night."

I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or insulted. But since John's comment helped my cause, I'll give him a pass.

"Oh yes. I know that Michael can be quite tenacious when he wants to be," Amy said glaring at me.

There she goes again, showing off her extensive vocabulary.

"So is Miss Darcy going to backdown from a challenge?" I said with a smirk on my face. Amy just continued to glare at me.

"I'll even sing with you," Katie said cheerfully.

"So will I," Jaime piped in. Did I mention that I really hate this guy!

"Me too," John replied, smiling at Katie.

"What song could we possibly all sing together?" Amy said in such a defeated tone that you would think someone had just ran over her dog.

"Well there is only one way to find out," Jaime said, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. Jaime, Amelia, Katie and John walked over to the list of songs to choose from. You could see that they were all in a deep discussion for quite some time. They finally made their selection, and told the man operating the machine. They were waiting in the corner of the room, by the small stage, for the song that was playing to finish. I suddenly felt really, really, bad. Amelia was in the corner, and she had gone pale. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and I could see the fear in them. Her mouth was open, but I was too far away to know if she was hyperventilating or not. Now I really felt horrible. I guess they weren't kidding when they said she was shy around strangers. I was on the verge of running over to her, and telling her she didn't have to do this, when Jaime saw her.

Jaime walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. He was calming her down. I don't know what they were saying, but they were looking each other in the eyes, and Amy started to nod. It was finally their turn to sing. Jaime held her hand and guided her onto the stage. Katie and John were right behind them. Jaime introduced them to the audience, and said they were going to sing _Summer Nights _from **_Grease_**. All of them were looking at the audience, except for Amy. She just kept staring directly at Jaime. She still looked a little pale, but she was no longer wide eyed, and her mouth was closed. The music started and Jaime started singing the John Travolta part.

Then it was Amelia's turn and she sang, "_Summer lovin, happened so fast_," in a low voice. It was a sexy kind of whisper. I have no idea if she was singing like that because she was so nervous, or if she was intentionally trying to sing that way. But the audience ate it up. Some guys even hooted and hollered after hearing her voice. However, Amelia still wouldn't look out at the audience, and her body language showed she was uncomfortable.

It was then her turn to sing again and she sang, "_Met a boy, cute as can be_," again in that sexy whisper. I was surprised. I'd never heard her speak in that tone of voice before, and could only imagine what she would use it for in real life. I felt my cheeks flush just thinking about it.

Together, Jaime and Amelia started to sing, "_Summer days drifting away..._" and then it was John and Katie's turn. He sang the _Tell Me More, Tell Me More_ chorus for the male part of the song, and Katie did the same for the female part. That is when I noticed that Katie and John had been reading the words off the monitors. While Amelia and Jamie only looked at each other. Apparently they both already knew all the words.

I noticed Amy's body language started to loosen up a little when she sang, "_He ran by me, got me so damp_." She even put the back of her hand up to her forehead.By the time she sang, "_We went strolling, drank lemonade_," I could see a hint of a smile on her face. Yet, she still would not look at the audience. She would only look at Jaime. The crowd was really loving them. I'm not sure if it was because they were better then everyone else, or because there were four of them up there at once. Or maybe it was because the tune was so catchy. Then again, it could have been because Jaime was just a big show off and was dancing and flirting with Amelia on stage. I don't think he was that entertaining. I've seen better.

When Amy sang, "_He got friendly holding my hand_," I could see a genuine smile on her face and it captivated me. Here, the girl that looked like she was about to faint before going on stage, was not only enjoying herself, she had the whole room cheering her on.

Then Jaime grabbed her hand and sang, "_She got friendly down in the sand_," and did a twist on stage almost making Amelia laugh. But it was her turn to sing next and she sang with enthusiasm. She was truly enjoying it now, and the audience was getting a real show. Not just a couple of people staring at a monitor and singing. I was really loving her. The way she just transformed in front of our eyes. I was also really hating him. He just kept smiling and winking at her. I never knew I could love and hate a performance so much at the same time.

Then I felt my heart being ripped out of my chest. Oh why did I ever push her to do this in the first place? Jamie grabbed Amy by the waist and pulled her against him. They looked deeply into each other's eyes and sang with passion, "_Summer dreams ripped at the seams, but, those summer nights_," very slowly and hitting the high notes at the end perfectly. The audience gave them a standing ovation, while Jaime bent down and gave Amy a kiss on the cheek. Amy finally looked out into the audience and she was beaming.

I can't explain all the mixed emotions I had running through my body at that moment. How I could be so proud of her, and so overjoyed to see that expression on her face. Yet feel so sad that another guy put it there. I was so confused. Why was I feeling this way? I always said that Amelia was not the girl for me. I know I had been wrong about a lot of things. But even if I was wrong, it doesn't mean that Amelia and I belonged together. Jaime being back in her life should be some kind of conformation of that, right? I mean, I don't know why they broke up, but they're obviously on good terms. Maybe this is their chance of finally getting together.

The four of them came back to the table and Louis and Heidi praised their performance. Then John said, "So Mike, are you finally satisfied? You finally got to hear Amy sing."

"Yeah, but I guess I'm just a little upset about how she lied to us all. How she kept on insisting that she couldn't sing," I remarked.

"Well, I'm just glad they didn't boo me off the stage," Amy replied.

"Funny how you knew all the words, considering you don't sing," I questioned.

"Well that's because of me," Jamie said, "I played the lead role in _Grease_ our junior year in high school."

"You were in a musical?" I asked Amelia. I couldn't believe my ears. She had just claimed that she never sang.

"No, Jaime was. But I learned all the words because he would practice in front of me," she replied.

"Oh," was all I could think to say. So Jaime was the homecoming king and the star of their high school musical. Was there anything he couldn't do?

Jaime excused himself in order to go buy some drinks. Everyone else fell into easy conversation. The dancing finally started, but no one at our table was ready to dance yet. Jaime returned with the drinks just as the first song was ending. He told us he made a request to the DJ, but didn't say what. Then we heard the opening beats to **_Def Leppard's_** _Pour Some Sugar On Me _start to play.

"My dear, they are playing your song," Jaime said to Amy, putting his hand out for her to take.

"Oh, you just want to see me dance like a stripper and get arrested for lewd conduct," Amy said in a serious tone.

"Yeah baby!" Jaime replied with enthusiasm.

"Okay!" Amy replied quickly, with a huge smile. She got up and quickly took off the sexy, wrap around, black sweater she had been wearing. Underneath was a blouse that was sleeveless and went all the way up to her neck. The collar was a string that was tied around her neck, and it had a small slit down her chest that didn't reveal anything. Amy grabbed Jaime's hand, and he lead her to the dance floor. That is when I noticed her blouse was almost completely backless.

When they got on the dance floor, Amy started swaying her hips from side to side, as she rocked her head from left to right. Her straight brown hair was flying everywhere. I had never seen her like this before. She had left all her inhibitions behind as she danced to the beat of the song.

When the words, "_Come and get it on_,"played, Amelia put both of her hands in front of her and beckoned Jamie to come forward with her fingers.

Then we heard, "_Looking like a tramp, like a video vamp_," and Amelia put her right hand on the center of Jaime's chest, as she dramatically swung her hips from side to side, in sync to the beat of the music.

Then she did a shimmy as the words, "_Take your body, shake it up_," played.

But the topper was when we heard the chorus. Amelia ran her hands through her straight hair and down her body as she twisted from side to side, every time we heard the words, "_Pour some sugar on me_."

I was shocked! I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe this was the same girl I met at the bar-b-q months ago. She looked incredibly sexy, without being vulgar. I was in awe!

During the musical interlude, she raised both arms above her head and spun around shaking her hips to the beat like a belly dancer. The same girl that didn't want to sing moments ago, had no problem letting loose on the dance floor.

When the song finally finished, Amelia and Jamie stayed on the dance floor. They continued to dance through the next song, which was a lot tamer. I finally had enough. I wanted to know what was the deal between those two.I couldn't resist the erg any longer. So I turned to Katie and said, "They make a cute couple don't they?"

She turned to me and said, "Huh?" with a confused look on her face.

"Amelia and Jamie, they make a cute couple?" I repeated.

She looked at me with her mouth open, eyes wide. She then turned to look at Amelia and Jamie on the dance floor. She then turned her gaze back at me, "Are you serious?" she asked like if I was playing a joke on her or something.

"Yeah. So, how long did they see each other?" I asked, trying to get some information out of her.

"Beg your pardon?" she said with that same confused look on her face. I love Katie, but you would think that I was trying to explain quantum physics to her right now, judging by the look she was giving me.

"How long did Amelia and Jaime date? You know, how long were they boyfriend and girlfriend?" okay I can't make it any clearer than that. But again she gave me that look, mouth open, eyes wide. Again, she turned to look at them on the dance floor. But this time when she turned back to look at me, she busted up laughing. I have no idea what she finds so hilarious.

"You think they're dating?" she managed to get out through her giggles.

"Well, didn't they used to be a couple?" I asked with a frown on my face.

"Who told you that?" she asked still laughing.

"No one. I just assumed," I said. Now I had the look that Katie had on her face a minute ago.

"They were never a couple. They never even went out on a date. Jaime is gay," she said finally controlling her laughter.

Jaime is gay? Jaime is gay! He's gay! Why am I so happy to find out a man is gay? I don't know why but I feel completely relieved. Oh no! I feel like such a jackass! I've been acting like a complete jerk all night!

"You really thought they were a couple?" Katie asked.

"Well yeah, I mean, they seem so close," I replied.

"Well yeah, we've known him for more then half our lives. And I may be Amy's best friend, but Jaime's her partner in crime," Katie remarked.

"Partner in crime?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, they were always goofing off together. Seeing what they could get away with. They never did anything really bad. They were just . . . . mischievous together. I mean, I never went along with anything they did, because I didn't want to risk getting in to trouble. But that's the thing. They never got caught. Well, except for that one time. But even then, nothing happened to them," Katie finished.

"Really? What happened?" I asked.

"Amy and Jaime snuck out of our science class, when the teacher was taking beakers out of the storage room. He never even realized they had left. Anyway, Amy and Jaime decided to leave campus and go to Jacques' for lunch. Which was also against the rules. When they were eating their lunch, Mr. Lev walked in. He was their math teacher. He saw them in the booth, he shook his head and laughed. He picked up his order, waved goodbye to them and left," Katie finished.

"And that's it?" I asked.

"Well, Amy and Jaime got nervous. They thought he was going to punish them when they arrived to his class, later on that day. But when they walked in his classroom, he just asked them if they had enjoyed their lunch and laughed. Mr. Lev was really cool," Katie remarked.

I looked back at Amy and Jaime on the dance floor. How could I have been so wrong about them?

The song ended and I saw Jaime head towards the men's room, while Amy walked toward the bar. I saw Amy place an order with the bartender as two guys approached her. She had both of her elbows on the bar, and she was leaning forward, not really paying any attention to them. The two guys kept talking to her, but I could see that she would only give them one word answers. She clearly wasn't interested, but they wouldn't take the hint. I wanted to go over there myself, but knew it would probably be a big mistake. Karina said that Amy got hit on all the time. So she obviously knew how to handle herself. She probably wouldn't want me to interfere. Especially with the way I had been acting tonight. But maybe this was a way for me to redeem myself just a little. I clearly remember how she told me, that there were times when she wished there was someone around to save her. This looked like one of those moments. I decided to take a chance and walked over to her.

I came up behind her and put both my elbows on the bar next to hers, trapping her in place. I pressed my chest against her back, and rested my chin on her shoulder, next to her ear.

"Sweetheart, do you want to dance?" I asked.

She had been instantly startled when she felt my body against hers. And she appeared to be surprised by my words. But when she saw the look in my eyes, she quickly realized what I was doing.

With a quick glace at the two guys, she replied, "Sure honey. Let me just get my soda."

The two guys didn't seem to buy it. One of them replied, "I thought you said you didn't have a boyfriend."

I saw Katie heading towards the ladies room and got an idea, "She doesn't. I'm her fiancé," I replied.

The guy scoffed, "Fiancé, huh? Where's her ring?"

I looked down at her left hand, and enclosed it with my own. I raised it to my lips and kissed her ring finger. I then rubbed her ring finger with my thumb and said, "I'm working on it."

The bartender then handed Amy her soda, and I put my arm around her waist and guided her back to our table. When we were out of hearing range she said, "Man, you're good."

"Well I learned from the best," I replied with a smile.

She slightly raised one eyebrow, not knowing what I was referring to, "Remember when you saved me from Colleen."

She then nodded in remembrance. I continued, "Well, do I get that dance? Or was that part just for show, honey?"

She laughed and said, "I'm ready when you are."

I guided her to the dance floor and we danced to _**Rob Thomas'** Streetcorner Symphony_. I loved watching the little bounce she would put in each step. We continued to dance through the next two songs. We just kept smiling at each other, and were having a good time. Then they started to play a slow song and I asked if she wanted to continue. She said sure, and I put my hand on her bare back as I pulled her towards me. I was enveloped by that sweet smell I first noticed at John and Katie's engagement party. Again, Amelia seemed to fit perfectly in my arms as we swayed to the music. I pressed my chin to the side of her head, as I listened to the words of the song.

_I'm weak it's true_

_Cause I'm afraid to know the answer_

_Do you want me too?_

_Cause my heart keeps falling faster_

_I've waited all my life to cross this line_

_To the only thing that's true_

_So I will not hide_

_It's time to try_

_Anything to be with you_

_All my life I've waited_

_This is true_

I had never heard this song before, but it was like the song was saying what I was feeling inside. Was Amelia feeling the same way that I was? Like the song, I think I was willing to try anything to find out. Holding her in my arms just felt so right. We continued to dance until the song ended.

Later, we were sitting at the table laughing as we talked to Jaime.

"Remember the time when they banned us from ever setting foot on the tennis courts, ever again?" Jaime asked Amelia as they both started to laugh, and she nodded in remembrance.

"What did you guys do to earn that?" I asked in astonishment.

"He started it," Amelia replied.

"No, you started it," Jaime told her.

She shook her head and said, "Well I don't remember who started it, but the rest of our P. E. class joined in. So the whole class got banned."

"Good thing too, or the two of us would have gotten all the blame. At least the whole class got in trouble, not just us," Jaime remarked.

Again I asked, "What did you two do?"

Amelia sighed and started, "We were playing tennis and we happened to have a substitute teacher that day. He obviously wasn't paying any attention to what we were doing. The tennis courts were next to the student parking lot. And one of us happened to hit the ball over the fence. The ball hit a car and the alarm went off. And being the stupid 15 year olds we were, we thought it was really funny. We started hitting tennis balls over the fence, to see how many alarms we could set off at once. Everyone saw what we were doing and started joining in."

Jaime continued, "I think we were able to set off four car alarms at once. We were really proud of ourselves, until the next day when our teacher got back. He sat the class down and told us before our class the previous day, the department had 100 tennis balls in a huge container he had with him. He said after our class, only seven tennis balls remained. The class had hit 93 tennis balls over the fence, and into the student parking lot!"

I laughed in surprise and asked, "So getting banned was your only punishment?"

"Well, that and we had to run laps for two weeks," Amelia said, "I'm just happy that I still managed to get an A in his class."

"He only gave you an A because he was the coach of the guys' basketball team," Jaime said with a smirk.

I was confused, "What does that have anything to do with it?" I asked.

"Nothing," Amy told me as she scowled at Jaime.

"We would have never won all our home games, if it wasn't for our favorite head cheerleader," Jamie said patting Amy on the back.

"You were a cheerleader!?" I asked confused, the yearbook had only said Katie was a cheerleader.

"No. I wasn't a cheerleader, and I think Jaime has had too much to drink," she said giving him a warning look.

Jaime ignored her look and continued with a smile, "She didn't wear a uniform. But we wouldn't have won all those basketball games, if it wasn't for her."

"Why? What did she do?" I asked. Seeing the looks Amelia was giving Jaime, I could tell I was going to enjoy it. Have I mentioned that I love this guy!

"She would . . ." he started when Amy cut him off.

"I was not the only one who did it," she told Jaime. She was looking very uncomfortable.

"But you were by far the loudest, with absolutely perfect timing," Jaime told her, he then turned back to me. "She would scream at the top of her lungs, the moment a player from the other team was about to throw the ball from the free throw line. And I kid you not, not one of them ever made the shot because Amy's," he said putting his arm around her and giving her a little shake, "timing was impeccable, and her lungs are like no others."

I couldn't stop laughing. Amy had her head down and was blushing. She looked so embarrassed. Can you imagine that? Amelia Darcy embarrassed! I have to say she looked so cute with her head down in shame.

"I can't believe you did that," I said still laughing.

"It was high school. Everyone does embarrassing stuff in high school," she replied with her cheeks still bright red.

Amelia Darcy was not the person I thought she was. And the more I learned about her, the more I liked.

Jacobs, J. Summer Nights. **Grease Soundtrack**, PolyGram Label Group, 1978.

Clark, Collen, Elliott, Lange, and Savage. Pour Some Sugar On Me. **Def Leppard**, _Vault_, Mercury Records, 1995.

Cabrera, R. , Harry, J. , and Solomon, S. True. **Ryan Cabrera**, _Take It All Away_, Atlantic Records, 2004.


	12. Chapter 11

**_Appearances May Often Deceive_**

**Thanks so much to all of you that reviewed. I can't tell you what it means to me to hear how much you're all enjoying the story. I loved hearing what you all thought about Jaime. I thought the fact that he was gay was going to be predictable. I'm so happy so many of you were surprised. Your responses make all the hours spent staring at my computer screen worth it. Thanks So Much :D**

**LaLumacca: Thanks so much for the suggestion. It makes sense that John would ask Mike what his behavior was all about. So I created a conversation between the two of them to kick off this chapter. And it tied in nicely with Mike's plans / thought process for later on in this chapter. So thanks again for the suggestion. It was a really good idea :D **

**Author's Notes : Okay I lied. I originally planned to put all the events that happened in one day, in one chapter. But I liked the beginning of this chapter so much, I decided to cut it in half. So this day's events will be told in two chapters versus one. I figured all the drama should get its own chapter, and you should enjoy this last piece of fluff before Mike has to leave Pemberley.**

**I hope this chapter was worth the wait :D**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Chapter 11**

I woke up the next morning and looked out the window. It had snowed during the night. Pemberley looked so peaceful covered in a blanket of snow. As I got up and walked out into the hall towards the bathroom, I noticed movement coming from the window that over looked the Darcy's backyard. As I got closer, I noticed that Amy and Jeff were having a snowball fight as their mother, Christine and Danny looked on from the sidelines. All three were quite amused at the war that had erupted in front of them. It was a sight to be seen. Amy and Jeff would hide behind trees as they replenished their stash of snowballs. They appeared to be experts in their technic, so they had obviously waged these battles before.

At one point, Amy nailed Jeff in the back of the head. He turned and shook his head at her and proceeded to gather more snow to make one massive snowball. Amy saw this and proceeded to climb the tree she had been standing by, while Jeff was to busy constructing his massive snowball to notice. When Jeff finally turned around he was dumbfounded. Where had she gone? He started looking around towards the other trees, thinking that she had hidden herself behind one of them. Amy was clearly visible, but Jeff never bothered to look up once. The three on the sidelines erupted in laughter at Jeff's confusion. He yelled at them with a confused look on his face, but all they did was keep on laughing. I wanted to try to hear what they were saying so I opened the window a little bit.

Jeff yelled at them, "Where is she?"

His son finally pointed up at the tree, and Jeff turned around and looked up at his sister.

"What? Afraid to take your punishment? Doesn't matter. You're a sitting duck up there anyway!" Jeff yelled as he threw his massive snowball at her and missed completely. Amy was so high up that it didn't even get close to her. Amy laughed at his failed attempt and then stuck her tongue out at him.

Yes, that's right. Amelia Darcy just stuck out her tongue like a five year old. "Well you're going to have to get down from there sooner or later! It's not like you can stay up there all day!" Jeff shouted up at her.

"Just watch me!" she yelled back as she rested her back against the trunk, while lifting and crossing her legs onto the branch and resting both hands behind her head. She looked like she was resting on a recliner.

I wonder how long she would have stayed up there. I never got a chance to find out because Jeff started climbing the tree which caused Amy to retreat. She climbed down the other side, then jumped off and ran into the house. Jeff jumped off and ran after her, only to discover that she had locked the door and was laughing through the window.

"Spying on Amy?" John said from behind me, which caused me to jump.

"Don't do that!" I said as I turned and smacked him on the shoulder.

He only laughed and asked, "So what are you looking at?" as he tried to look over my shoulder.

"Nothing," I told him as stepped in front of him, blocking his view.

"Really? So why would you open the window, when it's twenty degrees outside?" John said with a smirk.

"I just wanted a little fresh air. It's a little stuffy in here," I replied.

"Ugh huh," John said crossing his arms over his chest and smiling at me.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him.

"I just couldn't help but notice the huge smile on your face, when you were gazing out the window," John replied.

"Gazing out the window? I don't gaze! You're losing it. I think you were hallucinating," I told him.

"Hallucinating huh? Was I hallucinating last night when you were acting like a total jerk, because you were jealous of Jaime?" John retorted.

"Jealous! Why should I be jealous of Jaime? He's gay," I told him.

"So you are interested in Amy!" John said triumphantly.

I scoffed at him, "Where did you get an idea like that?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was the way you two were sitting on the couch together yesterday. Or maybe it was the fact that you danced with her all night, and never even looked at another girl. Or it could have been the fact that you were being so rude to Jaime, until Katie told you he was gay. But you just confirmed it by saying you weren't jealous of Jaime because he was gay. I could have been implying that you were jealous because he was better looking, or he had more money, or a better job. But oh no, you automatically said you weren't jealous because he was gay. So that means you were bothered by the fact that he was so cozy with Amelia last night. Admit it! You're falling for her!" John finished.

I just sighed and shook my head. No! No! No! Damn it!

"Alright," I mumbled.

"Alright what?" John said, gesturing with his hand for me to continue.

"I'm falling for Amelia," I said with my head down and in a low voice.

"What was that?" he asked putting his hand up to his ear. Ugh! He's really enjoying this a little too much.

"I'm falling for Amelia!" I practically shouted at him.

"Aw! My little brother's finally fallen in love," John said as he put one arm around my shoulder, and messed up my hair with his other hand.

I pushed myself out of his grasp, "Why are you torturing me like this?" I asked him.

"Cause you're so damned stubborn. I don't think you'd actually do something about it. Until you were forced into admitting how you feel," John replied.

I just sighed in frustration.

"So what are you going to do about it?" John asked.

"I don't know," I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, you know I'm no genius or anything, but I'd start with asking her out on a date," John suggested.

"I know," I told him.

I hadn't told anyone, except Charlie, what happened between me and Amelia at Rosings. The fact that she had already asked me out, and I had rejected her, still plagued my thoughts. I've never felt this way about anyone before. Usually I would just ask a girl out and get to know her better as we dated. I had never gotten to know, and developed feelings for a girl, before I've even asked her out on a date. This all just made me even more nervous, at the thought of asking Amelia to go out with me.

I didn't see Amy for the rest of the day. All day I found myself thinking about her, and wondering what she was doing at that very moment. All of a sudden I would find myself smiling for no reason. I wouldn't even realize it until John or Katie would point it out, and ask what I was thinking about. I would say it was nothing. But John would just smirk at me and start to chuckle. Katie would then look at both of us in confusion.

I finally got my chance to see Amy at dinner. The Darcys had invited us all over, as well as Jaime and his friend Paul. I walked into their house and sat down in the living room. I still hadn't seen Amy yet. Then there she was, running down the stairs in the foyer. When she got to the bottom step she hopped off, while she swung herself around with one hand on the bannister. She then proceeded to walk toward the kitchen. But then suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and quickly turned around. She was about to make a hasty retreat when I heard Mrs. Darcy yell, "Amelia Augusta Darcy!"

Augusta!? Hah Augusta! Amy's middle name is Augusta!

I heard Amy mutter, "Shit," before she turned around and said, "Yes, mother," with a big smile plastered on her face as Mrs. Darcy walked up to her.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mrs. Darcy said holding a cake in her hand, looking annoyed.

"Well, I don't have a dictionary handy at the moment. But I believe it is flour, sugar, milk, eggs and water mixed together and baked," Amy replied with a smile.

"Don't act smart. What is wrong with this picture?" Mrs. Darcy said pointing to the cake.

"Not enough frosting?" Amy replied.

"No," Mrs. Darcy replied flatly.

"Too many walnuts?" Amy asked.

"No," Mrs. Darcy responded.

"It needs some strawberries?" Amy questioned.

"No," Mrs. Darcy said.

"You want to add sprinkles?" Amy asked as wrinkled her nose.

"Amelia! Someone couldn't wait for dessert tonight, and decided to cut a thin slice of cake along all four sides, hoping that I wouldn't notice," Mrs. Darcy said in annoyance.

"Really?" Amy said examining the cake. I could tell she was playing dumb. She was fighting the urge to start laughing.

"Can you tell me who would have done such a thing?" Mrs. Darcy asked with a poignant look.

"Um. That damn dog! I tell you, he gets smarter everyday," Amy replied trying to keep a serious look on her face, but her eyes were laughing.

"Amelia! You ruined my cake!" Mrs. Darcy accused.

Amy tried to act offended by her mother's accusation, "Mom, why would you accuse me of such a thing?"

"Because I know how your pretty little mind works," Mrs. Darcy replied.

Amelia opened her mouth in pretend shock, "You do! Mom you can read minds!? I never knew you were psychic! Here quick, give me next week's lottery numbers!"

I couldn't help but laugh. She was quick.

"Amelia! I don't find you amusing. Do you think you're funny?" Mrs. Darcy said in a stern voice.

"No," Amy said flatly.

"Good," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"I know I am funny," Amy said plastering a big smile on her face.

That is when Mrs. Darcy cracked. She let out a chuckle. I guess this is what she meant about it being hard to punish Amy because she was so amusing.

"Well . . . I am warning you for the last time. Keep your hands off the desserts!" Mrs. Darcy finally said as she turned and walked back towards the kitchen.

Amy was still standing in the foyer when I saw my opportunity to go and talk to her.

"So Augusta huh?" I said with a smirk.

"Shut up," she said irritated.

"No, I like it. It's . . . unique," I said with a laugh.

"It's not like I named myself," she said still not able to look me in the eye.

"It's alright Augusta, no need to be ashamed," I was milking this for all it was worth.

Just then, John walked by and Amy stopped him, "What's Michael's middle name?" she asked.

I stiffened and suddenly became serious.

"Why?" John asked.

"No seriously, I like your name," I interjected hoping that Amy would give up, but she just ignored me.

"Just what is his middle name?" she asked John again, ignoring me.

"Finnaeus," he said.

"Finnaeus?" she said turning to me with a triumphant smirk.

"Hey, it was my grandfather's name," I said defending myself.

"Well Augusta was my grandmother's name," she stated in all seriousness.

"Really?" I asked, thinking we had something in common.

"Well no," she said defeated, "but who are you to talk Finnaeus?"

"You're right," I admitted. "Truce?" I said while sticking out my hand.

"Truce," she said as she shook it.

For whatever reason, I didn't let go of her hand and she didn't snatch it away. We just stood there looking at each other until someone said dinner was ready, and everyone else stood up. We walked into the dinning room where the Darcys had set up an extra table, along with their regular table, to accommodate all their guests. Amy sat down next to her mother and I sat across from her, as everyone else settled down. It was quiet for a second. Then all of a sudden music started playing, "_I like big butts and I can not lie_ . . . " it was **_Sir Mix-A-Lot's_** _Baby Got Back_.

The two tables erupted in laughter until someone finally asked whose cell phone was that. Everyone turned and looked towards the direction where the music was coming from. The cell phone was on a side table next to the wall. Mrs. Darcy got up, walked over to the phone and picked it up.

"Amelia! I told you to stop doing that!" she yelled.

I looked over at Amy and she was in hysterics. I had never seen her like this before, so full of life.

"Do what?" John asked before anyone had a chance to say anything.

"Every time my back is turned, Amelia takes it upon herself to download inappropriate ring tones on to my cell phone," Mrs. Darcy said in frustration.

A couple people giggled at the remark until Mrs. Darcy said, "Oh yeah, you think that is funny now. Last time I was in church when my phone started singing, _give it to me baby, I'm pretty fly for a white guy_."

With that remark, the two tables erupted in a second round of laughter.

That's when Amy said, "Well mom, that is what you get. You should know better than having your cell phone on in church."

"I forgot to turn it off, alright," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"See, thanks to me, you'll never make that mistake again," Amy countered.

Mrs. Darcy just gave her a look of annoyance, and went back to sit down next to her. "You know how boring your life would be without me. You should be thanking me for making your life interesting," Amy continued.

"Oh why couldn't I have given birth to a stupid child? I wouldn't have gone gray so fast, and I would have saved a fortune on hair dye," Mrs. Darcy muttered.

"Oh mom, you know you love me," Amy said as she laid her head on the top of her mom's shoulder. Mrs. Darcy rested her cheek on the top of Amy's head and turned to kiss her forehead.

I was a little taken a back to witness this touching moment between mother and daughter. How they could go from arguing one minute, to being affectionate with each other the next. I guess that is what Mr. Darcy meant when he said they would switch from being buddy, buddy to arguing in a flash. I felt honored to be able to see the love and affection Amy shared with her family.

We all sat back and enjoyed a pleasant dinner, even with Carl there. We dined on spaghetti, lasagne, fettuccini, garlic cheese bread and salad. At the end of the meal, as everyone was getting up to leave the table, I turned to Mrs. Darcy and said, "Thank you for dinner Mrs. Darcy. It was delicious."

Mrs. Darcy replied, "Don't thank me, thank Amelia. I cooked last night. It was her turn to cook today."

"You cooked!" I said in astonishment, as I turned to look at Amy.

"You know, I should really be offended by the way you just said that," she replied.

"No, it's just that I didn't know you knew how to cook," I replied trying to recover from the shock.

"Of course I can cook. Why do you act so shocked? Did you think I went out every night?" she asked.

"No. It's just that you were running down the stairs when we got here. You weren't coming from the kitchen," I said in my defense. I didn't want to get her mad.

"Well I ran up stairs to change because I stunk of garlic," she replied.

"Oh. So, you did all this all by yourself?" I asked skeptically.

"Of course. Little Miss Martha Stewart won't let me set foot in the kitchen when she is cooking," Mrs. Darcy said mockingly.

"I told you to stop calling me that! And I might let you into the kitchen, if you didn't try to constantly interfere with my recipes," Amy retorted.

"Your recipes? As in, you made them up yourself?" I asked, not believing what I was hearing.

"Yes, I made up my own recipes. And my mother here is banned from entering the kitchen when I cook. She is worse than a backseat driver! She just hovers over me and says, are you going to put onions? Why don't you add some more garlic? Why are you adding breadcrumbs to the meatballs? Ugh! I can't take it, so I kick her out," Amy finished.

"Like I said, another Martha Stewart," Mrs. Darcy retorted.

I followed them into the kitchen as they were clearing the table. I was leaning against the counter as Mrs. Darcy handed Amy a dish towel and said, "Okay Amelia, have fun doing the dishes," as she turned and walked away.

"Hey, hey, hey, wait a second here! Isn't there some rule that the person who cooked does not have to do the dishes?" Amy stated.

"We didn't live by that rule when you were growing up," Mrs. Darcy responded.

"Yes we did. I can remember hundreds of times when you cooked, and you made me do the dishes," Amy countered.

"See you're an expert at it! So what are you complaining about?" Mrs. Darcy asked.

"Ugh! You really need to join the 21st century and buy yourself a dishwasher!" Amy said in frustration.

"Oh honey, why do I have to buy myself a dishwasher, when I have you sweetheart?" Mrs. Darcy replied with a smile.

Amy proceeded to mutter something under her breath, when we all heard **_Aerosmith's_** _Cryin'_ start to play. Amy took her cell phone out of her pocket and looked at the number.

"Oh great," she said with a frustrated sigh, as she raised herself to sit on the counter.

"Hi. So what happened this time?" she asked into the phone.

Amelia started shaking her head and laughing in frustration.

"I could kill Emma for recommending her! Okay, can you please tell Harriet that I know it's a good neighborhood, and this has never happened before. But I am sure the neighbors never left a brand new car, parked in the street with the motor running, and the doors unlocked. While they ran inside for twenty minutes, to look for their cell phone. So we are not responsible for her car being stolen. And if she doesn't like it, she can just kiss my . . ."

"Amelia!" Mrs. Darcy yelled.

"What?!" Amy asked with an innocent look on her face.

"I don't like that kind of language," Mrs. Darcy replied.

"Okay, sorry mom. I didn't know you had a problem with that word," Amy responded as she returned to her phone call.

"Anyway, as I was saying, if she doesn't like it, she can just put her lips on my ass!" Amy said into the phone.

"Amelia!" Mrs. Darcy yelled again.

"What?! I didn't say kiss," Amy said, as she looked up with feigned innocence.

"Don't act all innocent with me. You know exactly what I meant," Mrs. Darcy scolded her daughter.

"Excuse me," Amy said into the phone.

"Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom," Amy responded while shaking her head. "Haven't you ever learned it's bad manners to listen in on other people's conversations? I expected better from you," she said as jumped off the counter and walked back into the dining room.

I tried not to laugh as Mrs. Darcy shook her head at her daughter's retreating figure. I then proceeded to walk into the foyer, where I found Carl having a conversation with Jaime and Paul. I normally would have walked right on pass them, but Jaime shot me a look, like I really had to hear what Carl was saying. So I walked over and joined their group. Just as I did, Amy was walking out of the dining room, while shoving her cell phone back in her pocket.

Carl was unaware that Amy was now standing just a few feet behind him. "So you're saying that you and Amy have something going on?" Paul asked Carl.

Uh, poor Paul! This is obviously the first time he has been exposed to Carl. If it wasn't, he wouldn't be asking stupid questions like that.

The mentioning of her name got Amy's attention, as she turned to look in our direction. She crossed her arms over her chest and appeared to be every interested in how Carl would reply.

"Of course, we have been involved for years," Carl responded.

Jaime and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Amy scoffed, and made a face of disgust. Then, after a moment, a smile appeared on her face as she walked up to join our group.

"Yes, Carl and I had an illicit affair," she said to Carl's surprise. Not only was he shocked that she had been standing there, but he was also taken a back that she was confirming his lie.

Amy continued, "But poor Carl here, didn't have the stamina to keep up with me. So I had to let him go."

She then turned to Carl and patted him on the shoulder and said in a low voice, pretending to whisper, but knowing full well that we could hear every word, "It's okay hun, they say these things happen to all men at some point in their lives. I hear there are these little blue pills that can help you with your problem."

With a smile on her face, she turned and walked away leaving a mortified Carl in her wake. I could not stop myself. I busted up laughing, and so did Jaime and Paul. Carl deserved it. If he was trying to imply that he was sleeping with Amy, he deserved to face the consequences. He never thought she'd use his lie to turn the tables against him, and make him look like the total and complete idiot that he is.

Carl turned and walked away in a huff. Jaime and Paul then walked over to John to tell him what just happened. As I was leaning against the wall in the foyer, catching my breath after laughing so much, I noticed some photos I hadn't seen yet. I walked over and started examining them. The majority of these photos were more recent.

There was one photo of Amy and Jeff at hockey game. They were both wearing jerseys, and they were either in a sky box or in the nose bleed section. It was evident because you could see the entire arena in the background.

The next photo was an old one of Amy and Katie, when they were probably four or five years old. Katie had on a pink dress and Amy, with her long curly hair, was wearing a red dress with white dots and short sleeves. The dress had a white apron attached to the front as part of the style. Amy was also wearing black shoes. If it wasn't for the paper graduation hats they wore, with yarn hanging down the side to act as a tassels, I would have sworn the photo was from Halloween. And everyone would assume Amy was dressed as _Strawberry_ _Shortcake_. But, based on the hats, the photo was most likely from their preschool or kindergarten graduation. I guess Karina did an accurate job choosing a nickname for Amy as a child.

The next photo I would've also guessed as being from Halloween. Although, I couldn't really say what Amy was dressed as. The sight of her took my breath away. She was wearing this incredibly sexy, sleeveless, red dress with a V-neckline and a flowing skirt. What made me think the photo was taken on Halloween, was the guy standing next to her with his arm around her waist. The guy had on a pin striped suit, and an old-fashioned hat. He looked like a mobster in one of those old black and white movies. I don't know. Maybe they were dressed as _Bonnie and Clyde_. Though, I don't think _Bonnie_ ever wore a dress like that!

Katie was walking by and I stopped her. I asked her where the photo was taken and why they were dressed like that.

"Oh, that photo was taken after Amy had performed her final for her dance class in college," Katie said as she suddenly became very excited, "Ooohhh! You want to see the video!?"

By Katie's reaction, I could tell this was going to be good! I just smiled and nodded. I followed Katie as she walked up to Amy in the family room.

"Amy, where's the video of your dance final?" Katie asked sweetly.

Amy suddenly had a look of disbelief on her face, as she eyed Katie and myself, "Why do you want to know?" she asked.

"Because Mike, and I'm sure everyone else here, would like to see it," Katie replied with a smile.

"I burned it," Amy said flatly.

"No you didn't," Katie protested.

"Yeah, I did," Amy retorted.

"I don't believe you. And even if I did, I made several copies just in case you tried something like that," Katie countered.

"Hah! Who's lying now?" Amy asked.

"I did. Just ask Jaime. I made him a copy after he begged me for weeks! He said he wanted potential blackmail material," Katie replied.

"You did what!?" Amy told Katie as she turned her attention over to Jaime.

"Jaime! Do you have a copy of my dance final!?" Amy asked him.

"Oh yeah! All my straight guy friends loved it so much, they forced me to make them copies for them to take home," Jaime said through his laughter as Amy just shook her head in disbelief, and covered her face with her hands.

"If you don't tell me where your copy is, I'll just run home to get the one I have there," Katie threatened.

Amy just crossed her arms over her chest while she pressed her lips together, as she turned and looked away.

"Fine," Katie said as she turned on her heel and headed for the foyer.

Amy called out after her, "Katie, you know what they say about Karma and payback right?"

Katie just smiled sweetly and headed for the door. Katie returned ten minutes later smiling triumphantly with a video in her hand. As she walked toward the television, Amy tried to block her.

"No, do not play that thing," Amy pleaded with her.

"Will you knock it off! You were great! I wish I had moves like you do!" Katie responded.

"I don't want anyone to see my moves! I was forced to do it! It was worth 35 percent of my grade! I never wanted to perform in front of anybody!" Amy pleaded with her.

"So why did you invite me to come see your performance?" Katie asked.

"I invited you for moral support, because I was a nervous wreck! I had no idea that you would be so cruel to show up with a video camera! So you could torture me with this video for the rest of my life!" Amy retorted.

"Well I guess you overestimated me," Katie chirped smugly as she walked around her and started to insert the tape.

Jeff walked in from the living room and asked what were we going to watch. Katie told him and he grimaced, "I can't watch that crap! That's my little sister!"

"Katie don't," Amy made one final plea as Katie pressed play. I just settled myself down on the couch in anticipation.

"I can't watch this," Amy said as she turned and walked out of the room.

The video started with Amy and her dance partner standing on opposite sides of the stage facing each. They were waiting for the music to start. The opening beats of _**Santana's **Smooth _were heard, and you could hear some audience members clap and cheer. That's when Amy sauntered across the stage to her partner and took off his hat. She then tossed it toward the audience without breaking eye contact with her partner. This move caused people in the audience, especially the males, to start hooting and hollering. Amy and her partner then processed do some type of Latin dance. They both kept serious expressions on their faces, but that only enhanced their performance. The combination of the music, their slick, sensual moves and their serious expressions, made for one hot performance. Then Amy had her back against the guy's chest as they stood still together. As the lyrics, "_Cause you're so smooth_," played, the guy slowly ran one finger down her arm that was facing the audience. This move got all the audience to scream and cheer.

At one point, their hips were side by side as they were facing each other. He had his hands around her waist and they started to spin. As the lyrics, "_I would give my world to lift you up_," played, Amy lifted both of her legs out, like she was doing a split in the air. While her partner effortlessly lifted her off the ground as they spun together on stage. This move, and the image of Amelia's red flowing skirt, caused the audience to scream again.

By this point, Amy and her partner dropped their serious expressions in exchange for big smiles. Then Amy was standing in front of her partner, and put her hand on his chest. Slowly she walked around him, without removing her hand, until she pressed her chest against his back and lifted her leg to the level of his thigh. Her leg was bent at the knee, and he put his hand under it to support it. He then spun around to face her and replaced his right hand with his left, under Amelia's knee, as he pulled her against him. She then lowered her back while he used his right arm to support her. He then slowly brought up her right leg up until it reached his shoulder, so it looked like she was doing the splits across his body. This move also caused the audience to scream and cheer.

I was suddenly no longer comfortable watching this video anymore. Had it been any other girl, I would've really been enjoying this part. Now I know why Jeff had a problem with it. I know it is wrong of me, but would it be too much for me to hope that her dance partner was gay too?

Amy slowly raised her body back up with the support of her partner. He kept his right hand on her back and his left hand on her right ankle, which was still resting on his shoulder. Amy was standing on her left foot, while she leaned forward against her partner for support. He then slowly started to walk backwards, dragging Amelia with him as she remained in the same position. Then he stopped and pivoted his body and Amy's into a dip with her right leg still against his shoulder. They looked liked the poster of _Gone With The Wind_. You know the one where it looks like he is about to kiss her. This move also got the audience to hoot and holler. But then the guy slowly brought Amelia back up and let go of her ankle. The moment he did, she quickly dropped it down and used the momentum to spin herself backwards with it. They did one final move before they finished the dance to a round of roaring applause, and several screams and cheers. Amy and her partner looked so relieved, and a little out of breath, as they bowed for the audience and exited the stage.

Once the video was over, Katie was discussing with Jeff what they should show next. Amelia still hadn't returned, so I went in search of her. I found her alone in the kitchen washing dishes. All I could see was her back, so I couldn't tell if she was still mad about Katie showing us the video. I grabbed a dishtowel that was on the counter and walked up next to her. I grabbed the dish she had just rinsed from her hand and started to dry it.

The move startled her a little but she smiled and said, "You don't have to do that. You're a guest. You should go back in the other room and enjoy yourself."

"I would never leave you to do all these dishes by yourself," I said as I grabbed another plate.

"No, really, I'm fine. My mom and I always joke around about who has to do the dishes. I can finish them by myself. It's not a problem. You should really go back out there and enjoy yourself and everyone's company," Amy finished.

"I can't enjoy myself if you're in here. And the company I most want to be around is you," I said as I dried another dish.

My statement surprised her and she started biting her bottom lip. She then looked down at the plate in her hand. I notice a little blush in her cheek as she concentrated on scrubbing the dish. She obviously didn't know what to say to my little statement. So I changed the subject, "So no dishwasher huh?"

"No. This is a really old house. Parents never installed one because it was just them and Jeff. Then when I came along, there still weren't that many dirty dishes to make them think they needed one. It's only nights like tonight, when having a dishwasher would be useful," she replied.

"Do you always have this many people over?" I asked.

"Uh, not since my dad died. Now we will have this many people over every once in a while. But when he was alive, we would have this many people or more over, at least once a month," she said with a sigh, and a sad look on her face as stared straight out the window.

I felt bad for bringing it up but then I saw a faint smile on her face and she started to chuckle. "He always used to drive my mom crazy. He would say lets invite this couple over for dinner. My mom would say sure and he would head to the phone. By the time he was done, it'd be an hour later, and instead of him inviting two people over for dinner. He had invited ten or fifteen," she said with a laugh.

I laughed with her, "He would come in the room and tell my mom that he just invited all these people over for dinner. She would say what happened to just the two? He would say well when I called them, they got me thinking of this couple or that couple, until he had practically invited the whole neighborhood. My mom would always look at him with disbelief. But he would always say the more the merrier," she finished smiling at me.

I was also smiling down at her when we heard some enter the kitchen. We turned to see Jeff standing there, staring at us.

"So what are you two doing in here?" he asked us.

"Oh, I'm just teaching Michael here, the finer points of embezzling and money laundering," Amy replied flatly.

When he just continued to stand there, eyeing us curiously without saying a word, Amy continued, "What does it look like we're doing Einstein?" she asked as she raised the soapy dish in her hand.

She then asked him, "What do you want?"

He thought for a second and said, "Danny wants some juice."

Amy wiped her hands on a dishtowel, opened a cabinet and removed a sippy cup.

"What kind?" she asked as she opened the refrigerator.

"Cranberry," he replied absentmindedly.

Amy turned to look at him, "Danny hates cranberry juice. You're the only one that likes it," she said with a knowing smirk. Jeff was obviously using Danny as an excuse to see what we were doing.

"Apple?" Jeff replied sheepishly.

Amy just shook her head as she grabbed the apple juice and poured it into the sippy cup.

She handed it to Jeff and asked, "Will there be anything else?"

He just eyed the two of us again, before he said no and left.

"Sorry about that. He's acting weird all of a sudden," Amy remarked.

I just smiled as we returned our attention to the dishes. I couldn't blame Jeff for wanting to look out for his little sister. I try my best to look out for Chris and Leo, though it never does much good.

"So, you're really an incredible dancer," I finally remarked.

I saw her wince, "You're required to take two semesters worth of P. E. in order to graduate. It was either that or bowling," she replied in her own defense.

"I'm sure they offered more than two P. E. classes," I said skeptically.

"They did, but those were the two classes that fit in my schedule. I'll admit I was excited about taking the class. I thought it was going to be a lot of fun. Until the teacher announced on the first day that we were required to perform for our final. I mean, I wasn't naive. I knew we were going to have to dance in front of people. But that was the first year they decided to have the final in the auditorium. That place is huge! And it was packed that day. I was a nervous wreck!" she finished.

"You didn't seem nervous. You seemed like you were having a really good time. You had a big smile on your face for half the dance," I remarked.

She laughed, "I wasn't smiling I was laughing."

"Why were you laughing?" I asked curiously.

"My partner missed a step, which caused us to have to switch the move we were about to do at the last minute. You can't tell from the video, but he just shrugged at me and then he started laughing because he was nervous. I couldn't help but laugh because it was contagious. I mean by that point, it didn't seem to matter anymore anyway, because we had already screwed up. People told us afterwards that they couldn't tell. But at the time we didn't know that. We thought everyone had clearly seen the mistakes we made," she replied.

"Well I didn't notice any mistakes. You two were really good. You must have spent weeks together working on that routine," I remarked, hoping she would elaborate on her relationship with her partner.

"No, we didn't spend weeks on our routine. It was more like a total of three or four hours. It was the week before finals, and everyone was swamped with finishing term papers, and preparing for their tests. We really didn't have the time we needed to practice our routine. I guess that is why we were able to pull it off on stage. My partner kept forgetting the steps during practice. If he remembered one, he'd forget another. Since we didn't have the time to perfect it, we talked about what we should do. We agreed that no matter what, I should follow his lead. If I had tried to do a move he didn't remember, we knew our mistakes would be more obvious. So we just kind of went in there thinking we would improvise if need be," she finished.

"Well, you had time to go buy costumes," I commented.

"Oh, they weren't really costumes. My partner already owned the suit. He just borrowed the hat. And I already owned the dress. In fact, I still have it," she replied as she finished the last dish.

"Oh really? I wouldn't mind seeing it sometime," I said as Amy turned to look at me, "I mean, I would love to see it modeled for me in person. I don't think the video did it justice."

She arched her eyebrow and a smile crept onto her face, "Maybe you will."

I saw my chance. This was the perfect opportunity to ask her out. Just as I was about to say I knew of an opportunity for her to wear the dress, Katie walked in.

"Hey you guys. What are you doing in here? You're missing all the fun. Come on, and get out here," Katie said as she grabbed Amy's hand and dragged her out of the kitchen.

I love Katie, but her timing sucks!

As we walked into the family room, John smiled at Amy and said, "Amy, I loved your performance!"

Amy just shrugged and replied, "Thanks, but it wasn't as good as Katie's."

John looked at Katie and asked, "There's a video of you too?"

"Yeah. It's on store shelves across America, under the name _Girls Gone Wild_," Amy said with a smirk.

Everyone in the room gasped and looked at Katie, "She's just joking you guys."

When no one said anything and continued to stare at Katie she continued, "Come on Amy. Tell them you're just joking."

Amelia just shrugged as Katie said, "Oooookay. What should we watch next?"

* * *

Thomas, R. Smooth. **Santana**, _Supernatural_, Arista Records, 1999. 


	13. Chapter 12

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

Thanks for all the great reviews! I love reading your comments :D I always reread your reviews when I get writers block, or get stuck. They always inspire me, and force me to keep going, because I know how eager you are to read the next chapter. So thanks ;D

**Author's Notes : Okay, I'll admit that I have been putting off writing this chapter, because I don't want to pull Mike away from Pemberley anymore than you do. But you all knew this was coming. I even gave you a heads up in the last chapter. So please don't be mad at me. :( I hate to write angst, the fight at Hunsford was the worst. But it had to be done. Sorry for posting later then usual, but I wanted to make sure those scenes were what I wanted them to be. I have been reworking them all week (see I told you I hated writing angst).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Chapter 12**

We were all gathered around the Darcy's family room, watching old home movies. Jaime requested we watch the homecoming video. He said he wanted to relive the glory of his game winning touchdown. They put in the video, and the first thing we saw was Katie in her cheerleading uniform, smiling and waving at the camera. The video showed her, and the cheerleading squad, performing one of their routines. At one point they threw her up in the air, along with two other girls. The video went on to show snippets of the game and the crowd cheering and doing the wave. Then Katie took over the camera during the half time parade. The freshman, sophomore and junior floats went by, with Katie not really taking any notice. Katie just focused the video camera on the last float in the procession, the senior float. As it got closer, you could see it had a Mardi Gras theme. As the float approached, the screams from the crowd were getting louder and louder. The float was packed with students wearing jeans and T-shirts with the words seniors in green and gold letters across the front.

Then it became apparent why the crowd was reacting so enthusiastically towards them. They were throwing Mardi Gras beads out into the crowd. Some students were even running down from the top of the bleachers to try and catch some. The seniors were dancing and screaming, not singing, along to the music they had been blaring. There was so much screaming going on, from the crowd and the seniors, that I couldn't even tell what song it was.

Then Katie zoomed the camera in to focus on none other then Amy, who was front and center on the float. She was laughing and smiling as she danced along to the music with her friends, and tossed the beads out into the crowd. It was odd to see her so young and carefree. With no responsibilities, and before tragedy had ever struck her life. I couldn't help but wonder about that girl. Would I have liked her then? Or is knowing what she went through and everything she has done since, what makes me admire her now? I honestly don't know. I can't say I would have liked her better back then. Before life changed her.

Suddenly, certain things made a lot more sense. Like how she had said at the beach, that one of her faults was being able to walk away and not look back. I remember thinking she was probably heartless if she could walk away from something so easily. But now I remember her reasoning was life was just too short to waste on things that made you unhappy. Of course she would see life in such a way. Her father's life was cut short. It was taken away in an instant, with absolutely no warning. So of course it would cause her to see life in such a black or white manner. If you're unhappy, walk away because something bad can happen at any moment, and you might not have years, weeks or even days left. So you shouldn't waste your time being unhappy because you never know what can happen.

I turned and looked at Amy and she just shrugged. She was blushing, and obviously a little embarrassed from the video. I don't know why. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. But I guess we all cringe at times when we remember how we were in our youth. I just smiled at her and she smiled back, as we returned our attention to the video.

The next video Jeff put in was of his high school graduation. The video started with a shot of the Darcy's front yard. Then Amy walked out the front door in a white dress with pink flowers. She spotted the camera and smiled. The person behind the camera said, "There's my girl," as she ran up to stand in front of the lense, smiling.

"Where's your brother? We have to leave soon," the man behind the camera asked.

"He's trying to hide a beach ball and a can of silly string in his pants," Amelia said in a hushed tone, as the camera started to shake while the man behind the camera laughed.

Everyone in the room laughed along with him at Amelia's disclosure. Jeff just shrugged nonchalantly and smirked.

The camera then cut to Amelia and her father. He was carrying her, and they were talking to the camera.

"Okay, Amelia. What are you going to do when they call out Jeff's name?" Mr. Darcy asked. Amelia started clapping and screaming at the top of her lungs.

Then Mrs. Darcy's voice could be heard from behind the camera saying, "You're not really going to do that are you?"

Mr. Darcy responded by saying, "Are you kidding? Of course she is! We've been practicing all week!" while Amy nodded in agreement.

"Ugh huh. Daddy said we're going to do it together. Right daddy?" Amy asked.

"Right honey," he said as he kissed her cheek while she smiled. The bond they shared was undeniable. It was like they were the only two members of a secret club. They both smiled for the camera with the same sparkling brown eyes.

Mr. Darcy seemed like a kind and loving man, with an heir of mischief that Amelia seemed to have inherited. He didn't seem like a man who took himself too seriously. I wished I had a chance to have met him. I think I would have really liked him. I ventured a look over at Amelia and saw she was smiling at the screen. I was glad she had reached the point where she could remember her father without being reduced to tears.

I turned my attention back to the screen and Jeff walked out the front door in his graduation gown and hat. He was smiling as the camera zoomed in on him. Mr. Darcy put Amelia down and she ran up to Jeff.

"How many balls were you able to fit in your pants?" Amelia asked Jeff.

You could hear Mrs. Darcy gasp from behind the camera, as she addressed her daughter, "What did you just say!?"

Amelia opened her mouth to answer, but Jeff was standing next to her, and put his hand over her mouth.

"Nothing. We have to leave now, if we're going to find parking. Come on Mia," Jeff said as he picked her up and started whispering in her ear while he walked toward the car. Amy smiled and nodded conspiratorially at Jeff.

"What did you tell her?" Christine asked him.

"I told her not to ruin the surprise," Jeff replied as he looked over at Amy and smiled in remembrance.

When the video was over, Mrs. Darcy and Katie were looking at the other videos in the cabinet. Mrs. Darcy pulled one out and said, "Lets watch Amelia's home movies from Africa."

I noticed Amy's back immediately stiffened and her face went blank. Everyone else in the room smiled and nodded in agreement as Mrs. Darcy's walked over to the TV.

"I didn't know you had home movies from your time in Africa," I told Amy. I was trying to figure out why her mood had changed so suddenly.

"Yeah, well, a couple of us had brought along some digital camcorders. And we combined our footage on our laptops to make DVDs to send to our families," she replied without looking at me.

"Well that was nice of you," I remarked.

"Yeah, well, communication wasn't that great. And we wanted our families to know we were alright. And what we were doing," she replied with no emotion.

The DVD started with shots of a group of people leaving the airport in a van. The group consisted mostly of men, with the exception of Amelia and one other woman. The video then cut to two jeeps being loaded with backpacks and supplies. By the looks of the jeeps, it was obvious they planned to travel in heavy terrain. Probably through mud and unpaved roads. It was dark outside, so my guess was it was probably the early morning hours.

Some people were talking to the camera, then it cut to Amy wearing a man's jacket, several sizes too big, clutching a cup of coffee with both hands. The camera zoomed in on her face. You could tell she was still half asleep. Her eyes were like slits, barely open. Then the guy behind the camera asked, "So Amy, are you excited to go out on safari?"

"Do I look excited? I don't think I even want to know what kind of animal would be awake at five o'clock in the morning," she managed to get out before she yawned. We all couldn't help but laugh at her response and the expression on her face.

I turned to her and asked, "You had time to go on safari?"

"Well, it was a day's journey from the airport to the village. So they decided to leave at five in the morning because they said we'd have a better chance of seeing some wildlife. So I guess we just hoped we'd be lucky enough to see some animals on our long drive. We only stopped a few times to observe them," she replied.

I turned my attention back to the TV and saw some shots of giraffes and elephants, and some other animals I had never heard of. There were also a few scenes of Amy and her companions joking around inside the jeep, during their long drive to the village. When they finally arrived, I could see little huts in the background. They looked like they were made of mud and straw. But the jeeps parked in front of two structures that were more modern. They were simple buildings, but structurally sound. Made of materials we would use for buildings here.

I turned to Amy and asked, "What are those buildings used for?"

"One is a hospital, and the other is an orphanage," she replied.

"Did you have electricity?" I asked.

"Solar. And the hospital has a generator," she answered, still not looking at me as she spoke.

The next portion of the video showed the volunteers building a school, and there were several scenes of them interacting with each other. At one point, Amy was shown sleeping on a cot, zipped up inside a sleeping bag. She looked so beautiful, peaceful and serene. That is until she opened her eyes and saw the camera in her face. She groaned and hid her head inside her sleeping bag and started yelling, "Peter! If you don't turn that camera off right now, I'm going to put you in the jeep and drop you off in the middle of the Sahara! So _Mufasa_, _Simba_ and _Nala _can eat away at your flesh, and leave your bones for the hyenas!"

The room erupted in laughter at Amelia's outburst.

"Well, aren't you a little Miss Sunshine in the mornings," a guy I assumed was Peter replied.

"Peter!" Amy yelled with her face still hidden, as she desperately tried to kick him through her still zipped up sleeping bag.

"All right!" Peter said as he turned off the camera.

The DVD moved on to another scene as Amy suddenly stood up, and walked over to Jeff and Christine. Danny had been fighting a losing battle to stay awake. So Amy bent down and picked him up. Danny wrapped his arms around her and nestled his head in the crook of her neck, while sucking his thumb. Jeff instinctively stood up and walked with them as they left the room. He stood by the doorframe and watched them go up the stairs. I couldn't help but think something was wrong, by the concerned look Jeff had on his face.

I turned my attention back to the video and saw Amy was with several children. They were in a school room, and I could see Amy was trying to teach them how to count. They were smiling and waving at the camera. And they each took turns counting their fingers proudly. Then the video showed Amy and a man reading to the children. They were animatedly acting out the book they were reading. The man would read all the lines of the males in the story and Amy would do the same for the females. The children would laugh at their facial expressions, and how they would change their voice for each new character.

It was plain to see how much Amy loved those children, and how much those children loved her. She showed them the same love and affection that she showed Danny. And in return, the children showed her the same amount of love and adoration.

The video then moved on to show scenes from inside the hospital. There were sick children laying in beds, and some had tubes sticking out of them. Most of the children looked frail. Amy and the other volunteers were reading with them or playing games. Some were just talking to them, trying to comfort them and keeping them company. Now I knew what Karina meant about Amy not being prepared for what she would experience. I can't imagine the heartbreak they must have felt when some of those children passed away. It must have felt horrible to stand by knowing there was nothing you could do to stop it from happening.

The next scenes were of Amy trying to comfort the children, as the doctors vaccinated them. The moment a child was given the shot, usually resulted with them erupting into tears. Amy would pick them up, and they would wrap their arms around her. She would try to soothe them by talking to them in a low, calm voice. Just like she had done with Emily at Jacques'.

When it was all over, I was in awe. I never knew Amelia had such an incredible heart. This woman was amazing. I looked around and realized she still hadn't come back yet. Paul asked where Amelia was, and Jeff, who was still leaning against the doorframe of the family room, answered, "She just, uh," and pointed absentmindedly behind him toward the foyer, not elaborating on where she went.

Everyone else seemed to interpret that as Amelia having gone to the bathroom or something. But I noticed the concerned look on Jeff's face. I looked over at Mrs. Darcy and saw the same look flash in her and Katie's eyes. Something was wrong.

Mrs. Darcy tried to cover by standing up and asking who wanted dessert. Katie instantly offered to help and followed her out of the room. Jeff then turned and joined them. Now I knew something was wrong. So I got up and walked into the kitchen. I found the three of them standing around talking solemnly. I heard Mrs. Darcy say, "I just wasn't thinking," as they all turned and looked at me.

"What's wrong? Where's Amelia?" I asked them.

"She just stepped out for some fresh air," Jeff replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why?" I asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Mrs. Darcy replied, "I just wasn't thinking. I put in the video, not realizing it was going to upset her."

"Why did it upset her?" I asked.

Mrs. Darcy sighed and said, "She just learned on her recent trip to Africa, that some of those children in the video have since pasted away."

"Oh," I sighed.

"We didn't think she would get upset at seeing the video, because we've seen it several times before. But we didn't think about the fact that she just recently learned that those kids she was close to, didn't make it. And she is still dealing with the fact that their little lives were cut short," Katie replied.

"Oh," I hadn't thought about that either. I had wondered why she didn't discuss her recent trip to Africa. And I wondered why no one ever brought it up. But I never thought this was the reason. No wonder she looked so uncomfortable watching the video. She was still grieving. This loss was still fresh in her mind. I could only imagine how she must have felt when she arrived at the village, and learned that some of the children she had grown to love were now gone.

Then it dawned on me that Karina had said Amy would disappear every time she became emotional after her father's death. She would either go for a walk or lock herself up in a room. This was obviously why they were all concerned right now. They all knew how she handled her grief.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" I asked.

Mrs. Darcy just shrugged, "Amelia has never been one to express her emotions. She has always bottled them up inside of her. Even as a child, she rarely ever cried. I remember taking her to get vaccinated as a toddler. When the doctor poked her with the needle, all she said was ow. Then she pressed her pouty lips together and frowned at the doctor. She gave him a look like, what did she ever to do him, to cause him to poke her with a needle. The doctor was completely amazed. He said in all his years, he had never seen a toddler react that way. She was the only one who didn't scream or cry. Amelia always bottles up, or tries to run away from the pain she is feeling."

We stood there quiet for a moment before Mrs. Darcy said she'd better get the dessert ready. As she and Katie started taking out the plates, I walked out of the room and towards the front door. I had to find her. She shouldn't be walking around alone at night, especially when she is in pain. I walked over to the coat rack and grabbed my jacket. As I was about to open the door, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Jeff.

"I saw her grab her skates from the closet. So she's probably at the pond, down that way," he said as he pointed out the door.

I can't explain the look we gave each other at that moment. We both gave each other a slight nod. By which he was telling me, he trusted me to take care of his sister. And I was telling him that he didn't have to worry. I would take care of her. I wanted to. I felt honored that he would step aside, and would trust me enough to do this. He looked a little sad, like he was passing something he cherished over to me. He had said the other day that it would be hard for him to see his sister rely on a man other then himself. He had always felt that he was her protector.

I gave him another nod as I walked out the door. I headed in the direction Jeff had said. Before long, I had come to a clearing and I could see Amelia in the distance. The pond was illuminated by the full moon and the street lamps in the distance. As I approached, I could see Amelia skating around in circles with her head down, lost in thought. Then she started spinning around. It looked like she hoped to shake off whatever it was she was feeling inside, through her spins. She looked so beautiful as the moonlight shined down on her. Even with the crunching of the snow underneath my feet, she didn't hear me approach. When I got closer, I noticed she had tiny, white earphones in her ears. She was probably listening to an _iPod_ she had in her pocket.

She finally looked up and noticed me. She stopped suddenly, and put both hands over her heart, as she took a deep breath. She pulled out her earphones and said, "You startled me."

"Sorry," I replied.

She caught her breath and asked, "What are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I answered.

She just looked down and skated toward the edge of the pond, "I just wanted some fresh air."

"Oh, I see," I replied as I walked over to her. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. I had absolutely no idea what I should say to her.

She sat down on a log that was near the edge of the pond and started taking off her skates. She still wouldn't look at me. She just kept her eyes focused on her task.

"You know, you shouldn't be out here alone at night," I couldn't help but mention.

"I know, but I can take care of myself," she said reassuringly. I could tell she just wanted her solitude to deal with her feelings. It wasn't her intention to worry anyone.

"I'm sure you can. But there are a lot of people who care about you. Your house happens to be overflowing with them at the moment. You shouldn't give them cause to worry," I told her.

"That's why I came out here," I heard her mutter.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing," she replied. I didn't pursue it because I knew what she had said, and what she had meant by it. She didn't want people to worry about the fact that she was hurting inside.

"So why did you leave?" I finally asked.

She just shrugged and said, "I don't know. I've just seen those tapes a hundred times before, that's all."

"You seem upset," I remarked.

She just shrugged again and continued to look down, "I'm fine."

"Why don't you ever talk about your time in Africa?" I prodded.

"There's not much to tell," she said with a sigh.

"Somehow, I doubt that," I stated.

I didn't want to upset her. But I felt she should talk about it. I couldn't help but think she would feel better in the long run. It would be good for her to get everything out in the open. So I took a different approach. I wanted her to focus on the good things that happened.

"Tell me about it. What was it like? I know you have a lot of happy memories. You were smiling throughout the video," I commented.

She just shrugged and looked out into the distance. I could see she was fighting with her emotions. Her eyes were on the verge of tearing up.

"How bout just one? You have to have one happy memory," I continued.

She took a breath and finally started, "One day I was with the children as they played outside. One of the little boys picked a flower and walked over and gave it to me. I thanked him and put it in my hair. For whatever reason, the children were fascinated by this. They all came up to me and told me how pretty I looked with the flower in my hair. And then . . ." she said as her voice started to break. She was having trouble continuing with the story. Her eyes were welling up with tears. I placed my hand on top of hers and squeezed it.

"And then?" I prompted.

"And then . . . everyday after that . . . all the children would each bring me a flower every time they saw me," she said with a smile as a tear rolled down her cheek. The tears finally started to flow, and she pulled her hand away from my grasp. She covered her face with her hands and I saw her shoulders start to shake. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her and brought her to my lap. She buried her head in my neck as I rubbed her back with one hand, and stroked her hair with the other.

"It's alright. There is nothing wrong with missing the people you loved," I whispered into her ear.

I slowly rocked her back and forth until her tears finally subsided. I don't know how long we sat there, but after a while she finally sat up. She took a tissue out of her pocket and wiped her face. She looked into my eyes and said, "Sorry," in true sincerity.

"There is absolutely nothing to be sorry about," I told her as she just sat there looking at me.

"Come on, I'm sure you have other stories," I told her.

She looked at me hesitantly, but I wanted her to be able to talk about it without erupting into tears. I wanted to comfort her and help her with the pain she was feeling. Even if it took years to accomplish, I was willing to try.

"Come on, tell me more," I said with a smile.

She regarded me for a moment, before she told me about a little four-year-old boy in her class. She said for three days he wouldn't speak to her. She would ask him questions and try to engage him in conversation, but he wouldn't say a word. He would just sit there and stare at her, almost as if he were frightened. At the end of the third day, the children were leaving and saying goodbye to her. Some would stop to give her a huge before leaving. Then the little boy approached. He stood there and looked at her for a second, before he put his arms out for a hug. She was completely surprised, but she smiled and hugged him. When she let go he smiled and said, "Bye Amy," and left.

She had the biggest smile on her face as she finished the story. We just sat there and continued to talk. The cold didn't matter because we kept each other warm. I loved the feeling of holding her in my arms. I have no idea how long we stayed there. Eventually we got up and walked back to the Darcys hand in hand.

As we stepped onto the porch, I stopped and turned to look at her. This was it. I couldn't resist anymore. I had to kiss her. I still had her hand in mine so I pulled her towards me. She didn't resist. She just smiled as I put my other hand on her shoulder to pull her against me. I lowered my head and rested my forehead on hers. Our noses were touching and right as I was about to capture her lips, I left something rubbing against my leg. I instantly smiled thinking it was Amelia, but quickly realized it couldn't possibly be Amelia.

I disengaged our foreheads and glanced down to see Amelia's damn cat looking up at me.

"Meow," the cat said as it looked me directly in the eyes.

Ah, great! Perfect timing! The stupid cat was obviously exacting its revenge because I woke her up from her precious sleep yesterday!

"We have a visitor," I said in frustration.

Amy looked down and said, "Hi Ferrari. How did you get out here? It's freezing."

"Ferrari!? Who would name a cat Ferrari?" I asked in disbelief.

"I did," Amy said with a smile.

"Why?" I asked confused.

"Pet her," Amy said as I stared at her. She put down her skates, bent down, picked up the cat and repeated, "Pet her."

So I did. As soon as I did the cat started purring really loudly. The cat was loving it.

"See. She purrs just like an engine," Amy said with a smile. I just laughed because she was right, Ferrari was the best name to describe this cat. Amy finally put down the cat, and I took a step closer to her.

"Well at least you didn't name her _Toyota_ or _Mitsubishi_," I remarked as I placed my forehead against hers, again.

I lightly rubbed my nose against hers, as I lowered my mouth to capture her lips in the sweetest, most tender kiss I had ever experienced. I don't know how long we stood there but it was heaven.

We were forced to pull our lips apart when we suddenly heard the front door flung open, and John and Katie came running out onto the porch.

"Oh there you are!" John said in relief.

"What's wrong? Has something happened?" I said. John had his cell phone in his hand and looked incredibly worried. I knew something was wrong.

John nodded as he said, "It's Leo. He's been in an accident," while trying to catch his breath.

"What kind of accident?" I asked.

"A car accident. He's in critical condition," John replied.

Amy and I were still holding each other, and we both instinctively held each other tighter as the words came out of John's mouth.

Amy quickly asked, "What hospital is he at?"

"He was air lifted from the scene, to Meryton Hospital's Trauma Center," John replied.

"Meryton Hospital? The helicopter took him from Brighton all the way to Meryton?" I asked in confusion.

"No, they flew him from Longbourn to Meryton," John answered.

"Longbourn? Why was he in Longbourn? He was supposed to be in Brighton with his buddies," I asked in confusion.

"They were, but the hotel they were staying at asked them to leave because rowdy and unruly behavior. They weren't able to get rooms anywhere else, so they had to come back home," John replied.

"And that is when the accident happened?" I asked.

"No. Apparently Leo and his buddies decided to throw a party since they had the house all to themselves. Leo knew everyone would be coming home on Sunday. So I guess he figured he'd have time to clean up before mom and dad got home. Anyway, Leo left the house to buy more beer. And it seems he hit a patch of ice or something, because of the snow, and slammed into a tree," John finished.

"More beer!?" I asked incredulously.

John nodded solemnly, "Apparently had been drinking. His car plowed toward a car full of people. But they were able to swerve at the last minute, so he just ran them off the road. They were the ones who called 911."

I instantly felt Amelia's body stiffen in my embrace. How could he have been so stupid!? He could have killed somebody! He could have killed himself! Heck! He could have killed several people including himself! The idiot! How could he be so irresponsible!?

I turned to look at Amelia. Her eyes were glazed over, like she was lost in thought. She was probably reliving the nightmare of her father's death all over again. Oh Leo! What have you done!?

"We have to go!" John said.

"Yeah," I replied.

I finally noticed everyone was standing in the foyer by the door, not wanting to interrupt as John broke the news to me. Jeff stepped out and offered to drive us. We thanked him but declined. All the Bingleys stepped out with their coats on ready to leave. I finally let go of Amelia and sadly said good bye before John and I quickly made our way down the driveway, and over to his car that was parked next door.


	14. Chapter 13

_**Appearances May Often Deceive**_

Thanks to everyone that reviewed! You guys are great :D

**Author's Notes: Okay, I never said where Meryton was located because it is still just a fictional place in my mind. But in the book, Pemberley was supposed to be about a day's journey from London, if you traveled by horse. Since this is a modern story, travel is not that difficult obviously. So I made up the travel hours just to show it was not an easy distance to get to, just like the original. I'll just leave it at that because you are about to find out what I mean.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations. **

**Chapter 13**

It took John and I three hours to get back to Meryton because of the snow. When we finally got to the hospital, in the early morning hours, there still wasn't much news. We found our parents, along with Chris and Matt, in the ICU waiting room. They still hadn't had a chance to see Leo. Apparently since they brought him in, it had been nothing but x-rays, scans and lab work. So they had been stuck waiting the whole time.

It wasn't until four o'clock in the morning that they finally allowed us to see him, but only two at a time. It was against hospital rules, since visiting hours didn't start til eight a.m.. But the doctors knew we had been waiting all night, and how worried we all were, so they allowed us to see him for a few minutes. The doctors couldn't tell us much about his condition since they were still waiting for all the test results to come in.

My parents were the first to go in to see Leo. When they came out, a few minutes later, my mom was devastated. She was crying and my dad had to help her back into the waiting room. We all just huddled around and hugged her. I think it was comforting for her to have all her sons so close.

We let Matt and Chris go in next. When they came out, they were pale and their expressions were grim. John and I were the last to go in. We walked through the door and saw Leo laying there unconscious, connected to tubes and wires. The only sounds that could be heard were the beeping from Leo's heart monitor and the horrible suction noise coming from the tube that was inserted in his mouth. As we stepped closer to the bed, we could see the bruises and swelling on his face. As well as some of the smaller cuts that had been stitched up, and were not covered up by gauze.

Oh Leo. I had never felt so helpless in my life. My baby brother was probably dying in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop it.

We just stood there staring at him until the nurse came in and said he needed his rest. She told us that we should come back at eight, when the visiting hours started. We nodded and left the room. No body felt comfortable going home, so we all stayed until the doctor could update us on his condition. The doctor later came out and told us that besides the cracked ribs, and various other injuries, Leo had swelling in his brain and was in a coma.

This news devastated us all. The doctor said at this point they were waiting to see if the swelling would increase or decrease on its own, in order for them to know how to proceed. We thanked him and sat there in silence. No one knew what to say.

Around seven in the morning, Katie showed up with coffee and breakfast for us all. The moment she put the bags down, John scooped her up into a tight embrace. I had never been so envious of my brother in my entire life. There was only one person I wanted to comfort me, but she wasn't there. I wanted so desperately to have Amelia by my side. To have her holding my hand and comforting me. But I knew it wasn't going to happen. I can't make her go through this horror again. Especially when Leo could have been responsible for putting other people in the same condition he is in now, or worse. No. I can't make her go through this again.

After we ate, I turned to Katie and thanked her for breakfast.

"No problem. We'd thought you guys could use something right about now," Katie replied.

"We?" I asked.

"Amy and I. She drove me back a couple of hours after you left. We brought all your stuff that you left at my parents' house too. We dropped it off at my house before going to pick up breakfast," she replied.

"Amelia came back with you? Where is she?" I asked.

"After we picked up breakfast, she dropped me off here," she answered.

"She dropped you off? She didn't want to come in?" I asked, not that I could blame her.

"She had some stuff she had to do," Katie said with a shrug.

When visiting hours started, my parents decided they wanted to visit with Leo first. Since they only let two people in the room at a time, my parents told us to go home. We left the hospital and drove Chris, Matt and Katie back to our parents' house. We were all shocked when we saw the state our parents' house was in. We had forgotten about Leo's little party and the huge mess it had left. There was only one thing to do, clean it up.

We all felt like zombies. We had stayed up all night, not that we could sleep even if we wanted to, and cleaned my parents' house from top to bottom. It could have waited, I guess. But we didn't want our parents to come home to the mess.

We came up with a schedule so everyone could have a chance to visit with Leo. We kept to the schedule until the following evening when Dr. Foster asked to meet with my parents. My parents asked us all to be there, in case we thought of any questions to ask the doctor, that they might not think to ask.

A nurse directed us to a conference room, as we waited for the doctor to join us. A few minutes later, Dr. Foster walked in with three men who he introduced to us.

"These three gentlemen are at the top of their field and I have consulted the specifics of Leo's condition with them. This is Dr. Wallace, one of the top neurologists in the country. This is Dr. Young, Chief of Internal Medicine. And Dr. Philips, Plastic Surgeon . . ."

"Plastic surgeon?" my mother interrupted, wondering why Leo would need a plastic surgeon.

"Yes, Mrs. Bennet. If you agree, I would examine your son and see if I can treat the lacerations on your son's face. Hoping to treat the wounds so I could reduce the amount of scaring he will have as much as possible," Dr. Philips replied.

"Oh," my mom answered. I guess she hadn't really thought about the scars on Leo's face being permanent.

"As I was saying, these three gentlemen are at the top of their fields, and with your permission, I would like to pass your son's treatment into their more than capable hands," Dr. Foster replied.

I couldn't help but stare at Dr. Philips and Dr. Young. There was something strangely familiar about the two of them. But I could put my finger on what it was. I know I had never met them before. Yet I couldn't help but think I recognized them from somewhere. Oh, well. I guess it's just one of those things.

We sat there for half an hour as each doctor told us how they planned to treat Leo. Leo had shown little improvement since he had been admitted. But three days later, he awoke from his coma. He was disoriented and couldn't speak properly at first. He had no recollection of the accident or the events that lead up to it. A week and a half later, they moved him out of the ICU and into a regular room. Leo's recovery was still going to be long and hard, but it was a miracle he was still alive.

Later, I was helping my dad with the accounting at the garage when we started discussing Leo's medical bills. We were fortunate enough to have most of Leo's medical bills covered by his insurance. Yet it did not cover everything. For example, dad said the insurance wouldn't cover any services provided by Dr. Philips, since it was considered cosmetic surgery. I just shook my head and asked what he planned to do. He said he would get a loan if he had to. I knew I had to find a way to help my dad out. I just had to find out how much money he was going to need to cover everything.

It was the week before Christmas and I wasn't feeling very jolly. I hadn't seen or heard from Amy since Thanksgiving. She was obviously avoiding me. If she wanted to she could have called or stopped by, but she didn't. I was swamped with work since I took over most of my dad's responsibilities at the garage, so he could be with Leo. At times I thought about calling her but I knew it wasn't right. She was not my girlfriend. I just kissed her once.

At times I would think about what it felt like holding her in my arms. I wanted to hold her again so badly. But she probably wants nothing to do with me or my family now, after what Leo has done. Especially since Leo was guilty of the same thing as the man who killed her father. No. That had to be the reason why she was avoiding me.

I tried my best to push those thoughts out of my head as I went to go visit Leo at the hospital. When I got there, I found Dr. Philips exiting his room. So I walked up to him.

"Hello Dr. Philips. Can I talk to you for a couple minutes?" I asked.

"Sure Mike. How can I help you?" he asked.

"I was just wondering if you could give me a ballpark figure of how much we will be charged for your services. Just an estimate. I was helping my dad with the books, and was just curious how much this was all going to cost," I said.

"Don't worry about it. It's free of charge," he said waving his hand in the air like it was nothing. He turned his attention back to his chart and started writing.

I stood there stunned, "What? I don't understand."

"I would never charge Amy for my services. Besides, she felt so bad that I cut my vacation short when she asked for my help, that she got her company to donate some medical equipment I needed for my practice. She really didn't have to do all that. After what we have been through together, she is like family to me. I would do anything for her," he replied as he returned to his notes.

I stood there completely shocked. It took me a while before I could say anything.

"Amelia? As in Amelia Darcy?" I asked him with my mouth still hanging open.

"The one and only. Why? I thought she said you two were friends," he asked, surprised by my reaction.

"Uh, yeah, we are," I replied.

He nodded but he was looking at me kind of funny. He probably thought I was behaving oddly or something. I just kept running his words over and over again in my head. Then the doctor's last words hit me.

"What did you mean by what you've been through together?" I asked. Was this an old boyfriend of hers? How did Dr. Philips know Amelia so intimately?

"We worked together in Africa. It's kind of hard not to develop a bond when you have to live and work with the same people for months. Especially in the conditions we were under. We all naturally gravitated toward each other and became a family. Having to live with the pain and heartache of losing some of our patients. Being away from our families, being in a different country, culture, and in an area where they spoke a different language. I can't tell you how close we all became. Especially with Amy. She was fresh out of college and one of only two women on our team. We all looked out for her as if she was our little sister. Well, scratch that. Not as a sister exactly. I think all of us guys kind of fell in love with her. I mean how can you not? She's so cute and funny. And seeing her taking care of, and loving all those children as if they were her own. How could you not fall in love with that?" he finished.

"Yeah," I replied as I looked down at my shoes and felt my cheeks flush. How could you not fall in love with her?

"So you're a plastic surgeon, and you were volunteering in Africa?" I asked. I found that kind of odd.

"Yeah, I performed reconstructive surgeries on children that had facial deformities. Well, in the beginning anyway. Once I had done all the surgeries they required, I helped out in other areas that needed assistance. I mostly worked with Dr. Young," he replied.

"Dr. Young? Not this Dr. Young? The same Dr. Young that is treating Leo?" I asked in surprise.

"Yes, it's the same Dr. Young. We were in Africa together with Amy," he answered.

"And you all live in Meryton?" I asked surprised by this new information.

"No, I live in Los Angeles, and Dr. Young lives in New York. We flew in the moment Amy called and asked for our help. We're staying with her at her townhouse," he replied.

Whoa! I can't believe Amelia did this! I can't believe she asked her friends to help Leo!

Dr. Philips turned and hung the chart back on the rack behind the counter of the nurses' station. When he did, I noticed the name embroidered on his white coat. Dr. Peter Philips. Peter. Peter? Why was that name so familiar?

"_Peter! If you don't turn that camera off right now . . ."_

That is why I thought Dr. Philips and Dr. Young looked familiar! I saw them on Amelia's home movies!

Dr. Philips turned his attention back to me.

"Was Dr. Wallace in Africa with all of you as well?" I wondered.

"Oh no, there were no neurologists with us in Africa," he replied.

"So Amelia had nothing to do with him working on my brother's case?" I asked.

"Oh yeah she did. When she found out what happened to your brother, she asked me and Dr. Young who were the best in their field. We both checked around and consulted our colleagues. And they all seemed to think that Dr. Wallace was the best choice," he finished.

"So Amelia paid Dr. Wallace to come down here to take on my brother's case?" I asked in astonishment.

"Oh no. Not even Amelia has that kind of money, to persuade the leading neurologist in the country to drop everything and come handle one case," he replied.

"Then how did she do it? How did she get him to come here?" I wondered.

"She committed herself to obtaining all the funding he required for a research study he has been working on. See doctors love to discuss their research. Except when it comes to having to find funding for our projects. It involves countless presentations and meetings. No doctor looks forward to that. Anyway, Amy took on the responsibility of obtaining all the funding he required for his research in exchange for him treating Leo. She has been on the phone for weeks with her business contacts, and calling in favors. She flew to London this morning to give a presentation. She said if it's a success, she will have obtained the final amount Dr. Wallace needs for his project. She is quite the business woman, she is very resourceful," he finished with a smile.

"London? That is at least a six or seven hour flight," I said more to myself then for his benefit. I can't believe she went to all this trouble for Leo!

"When does she get back?" I asked. I have to see her. I have to thank her for everything she's done.

"Well she has to be back at work by Monday. So she should return late Sunday night. She was just so grateful that they were willing to meet with her during the weekend. She can't take any more days off of work, and most people don't like to meet on weekends. Especially during the holidays," he commented.

I just nodded absentmindedly in response. Wow! I can't believe this. Why would Amelia go to so much trouble to help Leo? Unless . . . unless she did it for me.

* * *

_Though this chapter is shorter than usual, I thought this was the best place to cut it off. The beginning part was the hardest to write because I wanted it to be realistic. Yet not too gruesome that it would bum you guys out._

_I already wrote 75 percent of chapter 14. So let me know what you guys think :D _


	15. Chapter 14

**_Appearances May Often Deceive_**

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review :D

**Author's Notes: There is only one chapter left after this, then the epilogue (Possibly two chapters, if I decide to cut the epilogue in half. It has become much longer than I anticipated).**

**I just found out from a reviewer that my story had been blocking anonymous reviews. I didn't know my account had that feature.**

**So I apologize to everyone who tried to review in the past, but were blocked from doing so. I'm really sorry, and the problem has been fixed now :D **

Disclaimer: I do not own Pride and Prejudice, its characters, names or its locations.

**Chapter 14**

I was standing in the lobby of the office building that housed D. S. Industries' headquarters in downtown Meryton. I scanned the directory and saw Amelia's office was located on the top floor. As I stepped in the elevator and pushed the button, I was still contemplating exactly what I was going to say to her. The elevator opened and I walked up to the reception area. The receptionist was carrying several envelopes and a package. She then spotted a woman walking down the hall and called out to her, "Jen!"

The Jen lady walked up to the desk and asked what she needed. The receptionist then asked, "Will you please cover me for a couple of minutes? I have to go downstairs to catch the courier before he leaves."

The woman agreed and the receptionist left. Then Jen went behind the desk and asked if I was being helped.

"Hi, I came to see Amelia Darcy," I told her.

"Oh," she said as she noticed at my causal attire. "Is she expecting you?"

"No, I don't have an appointment," when she frowned I added, "She's my friend."

"Oh, uh, her friend . . . huh. Well, in that case, I guess you can go down and talk to her secretary then," she told me, clearly not knowing what the proper procedure should be.

"It's the last door down the hall, on your right-hand side. The corner office. Miss Reynolds, her secretary, is stationed right next to her door," she finished.

I walked down the hallway and found an empty desk with Miss Reynolds' name plate on it. The door to Amy's office was open. So I walked up, and stood in the doorway to look inside. The office was incredible. It had two huge, floor to ceiling windows, that gave magnificent views of both the northern and western sides of downtown Meryton. The office was modern, sleek, and stylish. Against the window on the left side of the office sat Amy's desk with a big, black, comfortable looking, leather chair. I guess it had to be comfortable, considering how many hours Amy spent at the office.

Directly in front of me, off to the side of her desk, was a large rectangular shaped table with several chairs neatly placed around it. Behind it was the floor to ceiling, glass window that showed the northern view of downtown Meryton.

The wall on my right-hand side had a huge flat screen, plasma TV mounted on it. It was perfectly aligned with the corners of the table, so it was probably used in board meetings, or for presentations. The right side of the office also had two doors.

Since I was still standing in the doorway, I took a step forward to examine the wall to my left, the one I had been leaning against. It had filing cabinets lining the wall. They were placed right next to each other, without any gaps in between, so it almost looked like a counter. The cabinets were the shorter, wider versions that were similar to dressers. The filing cabinets matched the furniture perfectly. Everything had a smooth, sleek surface.

But what really caught my attention, was a huge floral arraignment that was on top of the filing cabinets, centered in the middle of the wall. I couldn't help but go over to examine it. It consisted of three dozen red roses and appeared to be very expensive. Then I noticed that someone had left the card laying right next to the vase. The card was on top of the opened envelope, so the writing was clearly visible.

_For a very special lady._

_With All My Regard,_

_Andrew Slater_

Wow. Andrew sent Amy flowers. Why? Is he trying to make a move on her? Karina said that Andrew was interested in Amy. She even thought that Andrew was in love with her. Is that why he sent her flowers? Was he finally trying to win her love?

Just then I heard a noise and turned around. One of the doors opened, and a woman came out of what was obviously a bathroom. She was a little stunned to see me standing there.

"I'm sorry, can I help you?" she asked.

"Oh, um, I just dropped by to speak to Amelia, um . . . I mean Miss Darcy. Is she here?" I asked.

"Did she know you were dropping by? Because I don't have an appointment written down," she told me.

"No, I'm not here on business. Amelia and I are friends. And I was just hoping I could speak to her for a couple of minutes, that's all," I told her.

Miss Reynolds looked at her watch and said, "She's in the main conference room right now."

"Oh," I replied. I should have known she would be too busy to see me.

"She went in there early to organize a few things before the meeting. The meeting doesn't start for another five minutes. So you should have time to speak with her," she told me.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes, no one ever gets to the meetings on time. Let alone early. So you should have a chance to speak to her. Just go down the hall down here. The conference room has a glass door so you can't miss it," she told me as she walked me out of Amelia's office.

I walked down the hall and spotted the glass door from a distance. I could see Amelia's side. She was bedding over a table, shuffling papers in some type of order. She was wearing a black sleeveless dress with a flowing skirt. She straightened her hair again, and it was currently covering half her face. She quickly looked up and I could see she was talking to someone else in the room. She pulled a paper from the stack in her hand and held it out. Then Andrew came into view as he walked up and started to read it.

I stopped in my tracks. I didn't realize she was already meeting with somebody. I saw Andrew hand her back the paper and she put it back in the pile. They continued to converse until they started laughing. I never thought I would ever see Andrew Slater laugh. He actually looked human. I had no idea he had so many teeth! All of a sudden, they got serious again. They were looking each other in the eyes as Andrew spoke to her. All Amelia did was nod, and Andrew reached out and put his hand on her upper arm. He then pulled her forward and hugged her.

I just stood there stunned. I was even more stunned when Amelia hugged him back. I realized I had to get out of there before they saw me, so I turned on my heel and left. When I got to the elevator, the doors opened to reveal Mrs. DeBourg. Great! Just what I need!

She stunned to see me standing there.

"Ah, Mr. Bennet. What are you doing here?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Uh, um. I just came to speak to Amelia," I stuttered.

"You did?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yes, but she's busy so I decided to leave," I told her.

"You came to talk to her about the wedding?" Mrs. DeBourg asked.

"What wedding?" I said in surprise. Is Amelia getting married!?

"Your brother's of course!" Mrs. DeBourg answered like it was obvious. Of course she would be referring to John and Katie's wedding.

"Oh, uh, no," I replied.

"Ah, I see. This is all beginning to make sense now," she said, like if a light bulb had just turned on inside her head.

"What is?" I asked in confusion.

"You being here. Amelia's behavior," she stated flatly.

Oh, she must be talking about Amelia helping my brother. Amy must have been ignoring her work.

"Amelia's behavior? Well, I haven't spoken to Amelia since Thanksgiving," I replied sheepishly. I wasn't sure what Mrs. DeBourg knew. But I wasn't about to tell her anything that wasn't any of her business.

"Thanksgiving? You saw my niece at Thanksgiving and haven't spoken to her since?" she asked surprised.

"Yes," I said simply.

"Humph," was all she said.

"What?" I asked, as she got lost on her own train of thought.

"Never mind. For a second there, I thought you might be dating my niece. But that wouldn't explain her decision. It must be one of her doctor friends. They're the kind to convince her to make a rash decision like this," she said more to herself then to me.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked. Now I was completely lost.

"Nothing. I have to go put a stop to something. If you will please excuse me," she said as walked past me and headed for the conference room.

Now I was completely confused. What was going on? What was she talking about? I had more questions then answers.

Since I was already in Meryton, I decided to visit Leo in the hospital. After I was there for an hour, the nurse asked if I could step outside for few minutes while she examined Leo. I agreed and went to the waiting room. While I was there, John and Katie arrived. I greeted them and told them what the nurse had said. John took the opportunity to go get us some coffee from the cafeteria, while I stayed with Katie.

I was still completely confused about what happened and wondered if Katie could shed some light on the subject.

"So how's Amelia?" I asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, she's busy tying up loose ends," Katie replied.

"Loose ends?" I asked.

"Yeah, before she leaves DS Industries," she answered. She then saw the bewildered expression on my face and continued, "Amy resigned. It goes in to affect the first of the year."

"Amelia quit her job!?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah," Katie replied simply.

"But why?" I asked.

"When she took the job, it was a difficult time in her life. Her father had just died, and that changed everything. She used the job as a distraction. But now she realized that it's not the place she wants to be. She is grateful to her aunt for the opportunity, but she is ready to do something else," Katie finished.

Is that why Andrew sent her flowers? Is he finally planning to make his move now that they won't be working together anymore?

"What does she plan to do now?" I wondered.

"I don't know. But last week she had to go to London for business. And the people she met with were so impressed by her presentation, that they offered her a job with the World Health Organization," Katie said with excitement.

What!?

"In London?" I asked.

"Yeah, isn't it exciting?" Katie said with a smile.

No! This can't be happening. This has to be a nightmare! She goes to London to help my brother, and as a result I can be losing her forever. No! This can't be true!

"So she took the job?" I asked.

"She's thinking about it. I mean it's a really great offer. She was so flattered that they would just offer her a job like that. Since she was there for a completely different reason. But at one point they asked her about her job, and she mentioned that she had resigned. And they were so impressed with her presentation that they made her an offer. She said if she took the job, she would be helping to make a difference in so many people's lives," Katie finished with a smile.

How could Katie be so happy about this? If Amy takes the job, she'll be losing her best friend!

My only guess is, if you really love someone, you're willing to let them go if it means they're happiness.

When John came back, I made my excuses and left. On the drive home, I couldn't help but listen to the lyrics of the song that was playing on the radio. Suddenly the words had a whole new meaning to me.

_I love you_

_I've loved you all along_

_And I miss you_

_Been far away for far too long_

_I keep dreaming _

_You'll be with me _

_And you'd never go_

_Stop breathing_

_If I don't see you anymore_

* * *

Far Away by Nickelback 


	16. Chapter 15

**_Appearances May Often Deceive_**

**Chapter 15**

It was New Year's Eve and Katie was throwing a party at her house. I really did not want to go. Mainly because I knew Amelia would be there. I didn't want to say goodbye. I didn't know how to say goodbye. When I told John I didn't want to go because I had nothing to celebrate, he asked me what was going on. He already knew some of the details from Katie and I filled him in on the rest of the story.

John just stood there and looked at me and told me I was a coward and a fool. If I lost Amelia it was because I just sat by and did nothing, which was not like me at all. I told him how could I lose Amelia if I never had her in the first place. And if Amelia wants to leave, that shows she doesn't want me to be a part of her life. John then said her actions weren't those of a person who doesn't care about me. And second, why should she stay if I hadn't spoken to her in over a month. By ignoring her I was pushing her away, and if I never asked, I would never know her true feelings. Then I would be the one living a lifetime of regret.

John left for the party, leaving me alone to think about what he had said. So I begrudgingly got up and started getting dressed to go to the party. I didn't know what I was going to say to Amelia when I saw her, but John was right. I had to speak with her.

When I walked through the front door of Katie's house, I scanned the room trying to find Amelia. I finally spotted her head through the sea of people standing in front of me. She was talking to Katie and John. When the people finally parted, I couldn't believe my eyes. Amelia was wearing the red dress! The one I had said I would like to see her wear in person. Did she wear it tonight for me?

I walked over to them and said hi. All three of them greeted me with big smiles. I then saw John give Katie a conspiratorial look and Katie turned to Amy.

"Amy, were you able to pick up those fabric samples for the bridesmaids' dresses?" Katie asked with a smile.

"Yeah, they're in my car," Amy said plainly.

"Oh," Katie said trying to act disappointed.

Amy saw the look and said, "I'll go get them."

"Oh, you don't have to," Katie said unconvincingly.

Amy just smiled and said, "If I don't get them now, I'll forget to bring them in later. Please excuse me," she said as she started walking towards the door.

The moment she did, John gave me a shove, motioning with his head for me to follow her as Katie smiled at me. So I did. I walked over as Amy was buttoning up her sky blue coat.

"I'll go with you," I said simply as she looked up at me.

"You don't have to. I'm just going to my car. I'll be right back," she said with a slight smile.

"No I insist," I told her as she just nodded in agreement.

As we stepped outside into the cold night air, I turned to Amelia and said, "You look really beautiful tonight. I like your dress," I instantly felt like an idiot, considering her dress was now completely concealed by her light blue coat.

Amy just smiled as she said, "Yeah, I remember you mentioning before that you wanted me to model this dress for you in person."

Ha! She did remember!

"So, did you come here alone?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," she replied with a nod.

"Where's Andrew?" I asked nonchalantly as I examined the ground beneath my feet.

"Andrew?" she questioned, as I looked up to see her wrinkle her nose in confusion.

"Yeah, I thought you two were seeing each other or something," I said with a shrug.

Amy started laughing, "Why would you think that?" she said through her giggles.

I just shrugged, "I don't know. I thought I heard someone say he was interested in you or something."

Amy shook her head and said, "No. Andrew has always just been my colleague and friend."

"But you guys aren't working together anymore," I said as I looked up to meet her eyes.

"I know. He was giving me a hard time about it. How they weren't going to be able to find someone who could put up with him like I could. He even sent me flowers as a thank you for putting up with him for so many years," Amy said as she started laughing again, like it was all one big joke.

"What's so funny?" I asked curiously.

"Andrew told me I was going to have to put the flowers on his coffin, because breaking in a new person was going to give him either a stroke or a heart attack. Talk about dramatic. Andrew hates change. Especially when it comes to work," Amy finished.

"So he gave you the flowers as a joke?" I asked in disbelief.

Amy shrugged, "Sort of. He wanted to do something nice, but Andrew turned it into a joke because he doesn't do sappy or sentimental." Amy paused for a second before she added, "But he did break down and gave me a hug before our last board meeting. We were preparing our presentation and were joking around as usual. Then he suddenly got serious and said he was really going to miss joking around with me. He then hugged me and said I'd better call him once in awhile to give him something to laugh about."

So Andrew wasn't making a move on Amy. He was saying goodbye. I guess she really is leaving then.

"So, when do you leave for London?" I asked staring at the ground again.

"London?" she said in surprise. I guess she thought I didn't know.

"Yeah, for your new job," I replied.

"Oh, uh, I haven't given them my answer yet," Amy said as she looked down at her shoes.

"So, what are you waiting for?" I asked curiously.

"I have until next Monday to decide," she stated simply.

"But you're going, right?" I asked, hoping to see where her decision was leaning toward.

"Why? Do you think I should?" she said looking me directly in the eyes.

"I think you should do whatever makes you happy," I said softly.

Amy looked back down and nodded slowly.

"What's the matter? I would think this was your dream job. Something you've always wanted," I said as I stared at her face trying to gauge her reaction.

"Yeah it is," she said simply, still looking at the ground.

"So what's the problem? I thought I heard you were excited about the offer?" I asked.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't. The job is wonderful. It's everything I could ever hope for. And the idea of living in London is exciting . . . but . . ." Amy said as she stared off into the distance.

"But?" I prompted.

"Why should I leave when everyone I love in the world is right here," she said simply.

I felt completely torn. Part of me wanted to scream don't leave! Stay here with me! The other part of me was saying don't be selfish. Let her make this decision on her own. She's done so much for you already. You can't make her give up her dreams for you too.

"Well, it's not like you won't come back and visit," I said unconvincingly, which she didn't seem to notice.

Amy shook her head as she continued to stare at the ground and said, "I've learned the hard way that you should never take life for granted. You can't automatically think the people you love will always be there. Your whole life can change in an instance. And I know I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I was so far away and something horrible happened."

"So you're making your decision based on fear and guilt?" I knew I was shooting myself in the foot by saying this, but I just had to. Amelia seemed to carry the weight of the world around on her shoulders. She had to realize bad things would happen whether or not she was here. And she couldn't continue to walk around with this misplaced sense of guilt she felt.

Amelia looked up and stared at me for a second. She didn't seem offended by what I had said. When she finally spoke, she shook her head slightly and said, "No, it's not only that. I'm thinking about everything I would miss. I would miss being in the hospital to see Jeff and Christine's baby being born. Did you know I was the first person to hold Danny after he was born? I mean after Jeff and Christine of course. Jeff had a tear in his eye as he put Danny in my arms and introduced us."

I smiled as she got a little teary eyed at the memory.

"I don't want to miss that. I don't want to miss my nephew and Jeff's new baby growing up. I don't want to miss Jeff dragging me to see horror films that Christine refuses to watch. I don't want to miss the special treats Christine always makes me as a thank you for babysitting Danny. I don't want to miss my mom yelling at me because I ruined yet another one of her desserts before dinner. I don't want to miss Katie and I singing at the top of our lungs, as we drive to yet another bridal shop in search of the perfect table setting or something. I don't want to miss y. . ." but she cut herself off from going any further.

I could tell she was going to say you. She didn't want to be in London missing me.

We just stared at each other. Neither one of us knowing what to say. Until I couldn't stay quiet any longer.

"I know what you did for Leo," I said simply.

"What?" the change in subject obviously took her by surprise.

"I know what you did to help my brother. And I just wanted to say . . ." I started but she cut me off.

"How did you . . ." she said in confusion.

"Dr. Philips, Peter, told me," I said simply.

"So much for the Hippocratic oath," I heard her mutter.

I couldn't help but chuckle and remark, "I think that only applies to discussing a patient's medical records. It doesn't apply to doctors talking about their friends, or the patient's brother's friend for that matter."

"I'm sorry," Amelia said softly as she looked down at the ground again.

"You're what?" I asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry. I know it wasn't my place to interfere. I had no right to and I'm sorry," she said meekly.

"You think I'm mad at you!? Amelia, what you did was incredible! You saved my brother's life!" I told her.

"First of all, you're giving me way too much credit. All I did was make some phone calls. My friends are the ones who saved your brother's life. They're the ones who deserve all your praise. Second, I didn't do it to earn your gratitude. I did it because I know the pain of losing someone you love," she said as she turned to stare off into the distance again.

"I never had the chance to try to save my father and it killed me. I just couldn't stand by and do nothing if there was a way I could help your brother somehow. I just didn't want you and your family to go through the pain we went through. I would do anything to prevent you from feeling the same kind of pain, anguish and loss that I did. I would never want you to go through that. It was bad enough seeing the panic in your eyes when you learned about the accident," Amy finished.

I put my hands on her shoulders and turned her to face me. "Amelia, you are absolutely, without a doubt, the most amazing woman I have ever met. What you did for my brother was unbelievable. And though I love him deeply, his actions didn't deserve your kindness. You went out of your way to help save my brother's life. And there is no way we can ever repay you for that."

"See, that is why I didn't want you to find out. I don't want your thanks or your gratitude. I don't want you to feel like you owe me something," she said as she stepped back out of my grasp and turned away.

"Amelia, why do you think I am here standing beside you? Do you think it's out of gratitude? I'm standing here with you because there is no place on earth I'd rather be. And I knew that before Leo's accident," I said as I leaned down to whisper it in her ear.

Amelia turned and looked at me warily.

"I knew it before I even kissed you. And I think you knew it too," I said as I ran my finger down her cheek and leaned forward to rest my forehead against hers.

"I've never felt this way about anyone before in my life and it's not because of what you did for Leo. It's the way I feel when I'm around you, and the way I feel when you're not around. I want to be apart of your life. Let me . . ." I didn't have a chance to finish what I had to say because Amelia tilted her face up and kissed me.

A slow, tender, kiss. I then wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her against me. I could feel her lips smiling against mine as she wrapped her arms around my neck. Our kiss slowly became more passionate as we stood there, overwhelmed by our feelings for one another. How long we stood there making out in front of Katie's house, I have no idea. We finally broke apart when we heard people screaming happy new year from inside the house. Still wrapped in each others arms, we both smiled and said, "Happy New Year," at the same time, before we returned our lips to their previous locations.

* * *

_Would you like another chapter? I always intended to end the story here and just include the epilogue. But I have thought of an idea for another chapter. So I guess it all depends on what you guys think. Let me know :D _


	17. Chapter 16

_**Thanks for all the great reviews :D Real life has been hectic lately, so this chapter took me longer then expected. But I didn't want to post it until I felt it was just right. Hope you like it.**_

**Chapter 16**

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm driving Amelia to my parents' house for dinner. Amelia and I have been dating for two weeks, so I decided it was time to tell my family about us. So far, only John and Katie know the two of us have been dating.

These past two weeks have been so amazing. Amelia and I can't seem to get tired of one another. We've seen each other everyday since New Year's. Either she drives to Longbourn to meet me for lunch, or I drive to Meryton to meet her for dinner. I honestly can't get enough of the woman. It's weird, how I can spend all day thinking about her, and counting the minutes until I get to see her again. Yet, I start to feel nervous those few seconds before she opens the door.

I find myself doing the oddest things all of a sudden. Like doing twenty-five extra sit ups each night, or asking John's opinion on what I should wear. I even started buying breath mints. I want to be sure I'm prepared to kiss Amelia.

I felt so self-conscious the first time I had Amelia meet me during my lunch break, at a fast food restaurant, while I was still dressed in my uniform. I remembered Karina mentioning all the business lunches that Amy had with Andrew in the past. She was used to fancy restaurants and gourmet food. While I was asking her to meet me for burgers and fries.

I washed up at work as best as I could, and even put on a clean shirt, which my father found suspicious. But I still wasn't as clean or presentable as I would have liked to have been. The moment she saw me she smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck. She then proceeded to give me a nice, long, tender kiss. When our lips finally parted, we both had big, stupid grins plastered on our faces. Yes, this is the woman I love. I noticed all the guys in the restaurant looking at me and wondering how I ever managed to get a girl like her. I wonder that myself sometimes.

I know Amelia's the one. The one I want to spend the rest of my life with. So now it's time to let the rest of my family know about us. I called my mom and asked if I could bring someone to Sunday dinner. My mom was surprised by my request, since I've never invited anyone to one of our family dinners. She asked who I was bringing and I said my girlfriend. This was also a shock sense I hadn't told her I was seeing anybody.

I purposely said my girlfriend, and didn't say Amelia's name, because I had told everyone what a bitch I thought Amelia was when I first met her last summer. I had no idea how my family was going to react when they saw her. Amelia had asked me not to tell my family about her involvement in Leo's treatment. I told her on New Year's that I couldn't keep her involvement a secret, but I would wait to tell them when the time was right.

I parked my car in the driveway and walked around to open Amelia's door. Not that she actually ever waits for me to get there, before stepping out of the car herself. I grabbed her hand and walked toward the front door. Before reaching the front step I felt her hesitate a little. I turned to her and asked her what was wrong.

"I'm nervous," she replied meekly.

"Why? It's just my family," I said like it was nothing.

"I don't think they like me very much," Amelia said softy.

I didn't want to admit that was mostly my fault. I was wondering why she had been so quiet on the car ride over. I couldn't help but smile. She cared about me so much that she was nervous my family wouldn't accept her.

I leaned forward and kissed her. With our foreheads still touching, I pulled my lips away from hers and said, "That's why we are here. Once they get to know you like I do, they're going to love you."

We walked through the front door and headed toward the noises coming from the living room. We found John, Matt, Chris and Leo watching _ESPN_. I said hi and they all turned to look at us. Matt, Chris and Leo sat there with their mouths hanging open in complete shock. While John smiled, stood up and gave Amelia a kiss on the cheek. They both greeted each other warmly, while Matt, Chris and Leo seemed to become even more confused.

I guided Amelia over to the couch and said, "Guys, you know Amelia. My girlfriend."

When I said the word girlfriend, their eyes became even wider. I didn't think that was even possible.

"Amelia, you remember my brothers," I said.

"Hi, it's nice to see you all again," she then turned to Leo and said, "I'm glad you're feeling better."

He just nodded absentmindedly with his mouth still hanging open. The awkward moment of silence, created by my socially retarded brothers, was broken when my mom walked into the room.

"Boys, did I hear the front door . . ." she stopped in mid sentence when she saw us standing there.

She paused for a second to get over her shock before she said, "Oh, hello. It's nice to see you again Amelia."

"It's nice to see you too, Mrs. Bennet. Thank you for inviting me to join you for dinner," Amy replied.

My mom smiled awkwardly and said, "Think nothing of it. The more the merrier," she then looked around and said, "Where's Katie?"

"Katie's not here yet," John replied.

"Oh," my mom said in confusion.

"Mom, Amelia came with me. She's my girlfriend," I told her.

"Ooooh," my mom said, continuing to leave her lips in the O they had formed, even though sound was no longer coming out.

She finally recovered enough to say, "Amelia, why don't you take a seat over here," she then paused and looked at me, "Mike, will you please help me bring out the appetizers."

I knew that was my mom's polite way of saying, I need to speak to you right now. So I smiled and said, "Sure mom," before turning to Amelia, "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No, thanks. I'm fine," she replied.

I followed my mom to the kitchen. She waited til she knew we were out of hearing range before she turned to me and said, "Do I even have to ask?"

"Do you even have to ask what?" I said playing dumb.

"Do I even have to ask what you are doing with that girl? You told me she was a stuck-up snob that you couldn't stand. And now you're dating her! Why? Are you using her? Because I didn't raise my sons to take advantage of people. Even if they do hate them," my mom said firmly.

"No mom. I'm not taking advantage of her and I don't hate her. I was wrong. I was so wrong. Amelia is not a stuck-up snob. She is the most amazing woman I have ever met. I love her," I stated firmly.

My mom shook her head and said, "I can't believe your feelings for that woman could have changed so quickly."

"Well they didn't change quickly. I realized months ago what a total idiot I was. I took everything she had said, and what others had told me, at face value. I jumped to all the wrong conclusions. And when I finally learned the truth, and the whole story behind Amelia's way of thinking, I felt like a complete jerk. I misjudged her and shot off my mouth, not only to her, but to you as well. And now you are not willing to give her a chance. Even after everything she has done to help Leo," I told her.

"Leo? What does Leo have anything to do with it?" my mom said in surprise.

So I told her. I told her everything. I told her about Pemberley. I told her about Amelia calling her friends to come and treat Leo. I told her about all the work Amelia did to get Dr. Wallace to fly in and take over Leo's care. When I was done, my mom had tears in her eyes.

"I . . . I have to thank her. We should all thank her. She helped save my baby's life," my mom said as she put a hand over her heart.

I just shook my head, "Please don't. I mean, not now. She didn't want anyone to know she was involved. I think she wants you to like her for who she is, and not for what she did to help Leo. You can thank her eventually, but just not today."

"She must really love you then," my mom said as she put her hand to her lips.

"Well, I sure hope so, because I really love her," I said with a smile.

"You really do, don't you?" my mom asked returning my smile.

"Have I ever invited anyone to one of our family dinners?" I asked my mom, which made her laugh.

"No, you were always scared that Chris and Leo's table manners would scare your girlfriends away," my mom said with a chuckle.

"Since Amelia has already witnessed the worst of Chris and Leo's antics, I don't think anything they could do now would scare her off," I finished.

"Speaking of which, we'd better get back in there. We've left her alone with them for far too long as it is," my mom said as she handed me a tray of appetizers.

We walked back into the living room to find John and Amelia talking, while Matt, Chris and Leo continued to stare at her. We put the appetizers on the coffee table as John's cell phone started ringing. He excused himself and left the room, while I took the seat he left vacant. My mom then announced that she was going to go finish dinner. Amelia then stood up and said, "I'd love to help," with a faint smile.

My mom smiled warmly at her and said, "That would be lovely. Come on dear," as she wrapped one arm around Amelia's shoulder and guided her out of the room.

I couldn't help but smile at their retreating figures. When I turned back around, I saw the three stooges, Matt, Chris and Leo, staring at me with their mouths still hanging open.

"What!?" I asked in annoyance.

"What the hell is going on!?" Chris asked.

"What do you mean, what the hell is going on? Isn't it obvious! Amelia is my girlfriend," I told them.

"Why would she date you?" Leo asked.

I scoffed, "What do you mean, why would she date me?"

"Well, she's beautiful, smart and rich. So again I ask, why would she date you?" Leo asked completely confused.

I swear if Leo wasn't recovering from a brain injury, I would have smacked him upside the head for that. Instead, I opted for the ever so brilliant come back of, "Shut up!"

But Leo continued to ramble, "I get why you're dating her. I mean, who wouldn't. She might be quiet or a little boring, but with a body like that . . ."

"Hey, hey, hey, watch it! Don't talk about her like that!" I exclaimed.

All three of my brothers looked at each other in disbelief.

"You're in love with her, aren't you!?" Matt proclaimed.

I just smiled and shrugged. Then there was another moment of silence.

"But what does she see in you?" Leo asked still confused. Obviously all that alcohol he has consumed throughout the years has killed far too many brain cells.

"Okay seriously, shut up!" I said in irritation.

"No, seriously. What can you possibly have in common?" Matt asked.

Before I could answer, Chris piped in, "Oh I get it. She is rebelling against her parents, right? It's the whole guy from the wrong side of the tracks thing. Her parents probably hate your guts."

"I think her mom is quite fond of me actually," I said smugly, putting an end to his bogus theory.

"But her dad hates your guts, right?" Chris said leaning forward, determined to prove his theory was correct.

"Her father is dead," I said simply.

"Oh. Well, in that case, she must think you're a bad boy or something," Chris said as he searched his brain for an explanation.

"Well if you geniuses are done psychoanalyzing me and my girlfriend, I think I'll go to the kitchen. I'd rather stare at her, then your ugly faces," I said as I stood up and Chris chucked a throw pillow at me.

I walked into the kitchen and saw my mom was stirring something on the stove, while Amelia was chopping some carrots. I came up behind her and put my mouth right next to her ear, "Can I help?"

"Sure. Get another cutting board," she replied.

"No. I prefer this one," I said as I put both my hands over hers, and pressed my chest against her back.

She giggled as she replied, "Well, that isn't much help."

"No, but it's a lot more fun," I commented.

My mom just looked at us with a raised eyebrow. She had never seen me this way before. And I have to admit that I don't remember ever acting this way before either.

The back door suddenly opened, and my dad walked in carrying two grocery bags, "Honey I . . ." he started, but cut himself off when he saw me with my arms around Amelia.

He stood there with his mouth hanging open until my mom approached him. She grabbed the grocery bags and reintroduced Amelia to him as my girlfriend. Now I know where Matt, Chris and Leo inherited their facial expressions. Amelia smiled politely and said hi as my dad just nodded in response. My mom saved the day by getting my dad out of the kitchen before he embarrassed me any further.

"I seem to be having the same affect on people today," Amelia commented.

"Yeah, we gave my brothers quite a shock. They wanted to know how I ever managed to get a girl like you," I replied as we resumed our chopping.

"Oh, really?" Amelia asked in disbelief, "What did you tell them?"

I bent down and kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulder and mumbled, "Like I'd ever divulge my secret. Those idiots will just have to fend for themselves."

Amy giggled as my breath tickled her neck. Did I mention she's very ticklish?

Anyway, Amelia and I continued chopping the vegetables until John came in. He told us that Katie had just called and said she wasn't going to be able to make it. I could tell Amelia was disappointed. She was counting on Katie's presence to help her feel more comfortable.

My mom finished setting the table and told us dinner was ready to be served. We all gathered around the table and filled our plates. For a couple of minutes there, we were having a pleasant meal. That is until my dad decided to strike up a conversation.

"So Amelia, I hear you're going to inherit a major corporation," my dad started.

I choked on my chicken. Amy and John were sitting on either side of me, and started hitting my back at the same time. Chris and Leo sat across the table and just snickered in their seats.

"Are you okay?" Amelia whispered in my ear.

I nodded as I took a sip of my water.

Amelia then turned her attention back to my dad. "I'm pretty sure that I will no longer be inheriting D. S. Industries," Amy replied.

My dad frowned and asked, "Oh, why not?"

"Because I resigned and my aunt was not very happy about it," Amy clarified.

"So, why did you resign? Did you get a better offer?" my dad said perking up. I guess he thought Amy was moving on to bigger and better things.

"Dad," I complained, trying to get him to change the subject.

"No, it's okay," Amy told me before she turned her attention back to my dad, "I was offered another job but I decided to turn it down."

"Oh, and why is that?" my dad continued. Man, he just doesn't know when to quit!

"Though it was a very tempting offer, the job was in London. And there would be too many people I would miss if I decided to take it," Amelia said as she looked down at her plate.

My dad gave me a knowing look, as my mom smiled at Amelia's response. Satisfied with his inquisition, my dad refrained from embarrassing me for the rest of the meal.

After dinner, I found Amelia standing in the hallway, staring at all the photos that were hung on the walls. I came up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She instantly leaned her head back on my shoulder and nestled it against my cheek.

"I see you have your own Bennet sports hall of fame," she said with a smile.

She was right. My dad had signed each one of us up for little league, peewee hockey, football, basketball and soccer. Every sport you could imagine. The wall was covered with photos of us in our uniforms and holding our trophies.

Amy pointed to a photo and said, "Aw, look at you trying to act tough."

In the photo I was five years old, and I was wearing my little league uniform. My nose was wrinkled and I was bearing my teeth a little.

"I wasn't trying to look tough. They took the picture when I was about to sneeze. That is why I have that expression on my face," I said as Amy started laughing.

She pointed to another photo and said, "I never thought I'd see you in tights."

"Hey! It was the required uniform, alright? All the wrestlers had to wear them," I said in my own defense.

"Hey, no need to get defensive. I was just going to say that you looked really cute," she told me.

"Cute!?" I scoffed, "Puppies are cute. Babies are cute. I wasn't meant to look cute."

"Oh, okay. How about manly then? Is that better?" Amy said with a smile.

"Well, that's a little better," I said with a nod.

"So a wrestler, huh," she said as a matter of fact.

"Yup," I replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing, I was just trying to imagine you pinning someone to the ground, that's all," she said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"You know, you don't have to imagine it. I could give you a live demonstration," I said as I growled into her ear.

I bent my head forward to capture her lips with my own, when I heard someone clear their throat. We turned to see my mom standing in the hallway, smirking.

"Amelia, would you like to see some more photos? I have some scrapbooks I have been working on," my mom said with a smile.

"Sure Mrs. Bennet, I'd love to," Amy said as I released her and she walked over to my mom.

My mom linked her arm with Amelia's and guided her down the hall.

"Now tell me, do you have any naked baby pictures of Michael in the bathtub?" Amelia asked as she threw me a devilish grin over her shoulder.

I shook my head as my mom started laughing. Why do I have the feeling that the two of them together, spells nothing but trouble.

Later, Amy found us sitting in the living room as Chris and Matt played hockey on our_ Play Station_. Amelia walked over and sat next to me as we watched Chris and Matt's players beat the crap out of each other on the ice.

"So who's winning the boxing match?" she asked.

I put my arm around her shoulders and leaned us both back into the sofa, "It's not a boxing match. They're playing hockey."

"You can beat other players up like that, on a video game?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, haven't you ever seen this game before?" Amy shook her head as I asked, "What games have you played?"

"I've never played any of these games before," she stated simply.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute here. You mean to tell me that you've never played _Sony Play Station_ before!?" I asked in disbelief. My little out burst got all my brothers' attention.

She looked around at all the eyes that were now focused on her as she replied, "I told you I hardly ever watch television."

"Watching television and playing video games are two totally different things," I told her.

She just shrugged, "Well, I play those learning video games with Danny on the computer all the time."

I shook my head, "That's not the same thing," I said as I stood up and pulled her up along with me.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"We're going to teach you how to play," I replied as I sat her down in front of the televison.

I grabbed Chris' controls as he started to protest, "Why are you taking mine!? Why don't you take Matt's!?"

"Because Matt sucks. It won't be fair if she plays against you," I told him.

Chris smiled smugly at my backhanded compliment, as he stood up to give us more room. Matt scowled at me, but restarted the game anyway.

I put the controls in Amy's hand and explained what each button did. She slightly raised an eyebrow as she tried to remember my instructions. The game started, and it took her awhile to get the hang of it. Then, finally, she scored. She started bouncing up and down while she remained seated on the floor.

"I scored! I scored!" she said in excitement. We all couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm.

She then calmed down and closely examined the controls in her hands, "Now, how did I do it?"

I laughed, "Don't you know?"

She shook her head at me and said, "No."

"What buttons did you push?" I asked, trying to contain my laughter.

She shrugged as she replied, "I don't know. I was pushing all of them."

When the game finally finished, she asked, "So you guys like hockey?"

We all nodded in the affirmative.

"Maybe we can all go to a game sometime. I can get us some tickets," Amy continued.

We all sat there stunned. None of our girlfriends had ever invited us out as a group before. In fact, most of our girlfriends got overwhelmed when we were all together. As a group, we tended to get loud and always bickered with one another.

We all smiled at one another before we nodded in agreement and I replied, "You don't have to get us tickets. We can all buy our own."

"Oh," she smiled sheepishly, "I meant I can get us in for free."

Chris and Leo's jaws dropped as I asked, "How can you get us in for free?"

"Well, Erin, the PR Director for the team, was in some of my business classes in college. And Jennifer, she lived in the dorm room next to me and Katie, she works for the arena," Amy finished.

"So you can get into any event you want!?" Chris asked in astonishment.

"Well, basically, yeah," she said with a shrug, "But, for the most part, Erin is always offering me free tickets because, as PR Director, she says it looks bad to have empty seats when the games are televised. So she'd rather give tickets away then have people at home seeing rows of empty seats, because it doesn't look good for the team."

"How come Katie never told me about this?" John asked.

"Katie hates hockey. She says it's barbaric. And she says that I'm evil because I laugh every time someone gets slammed into the boards," Amy said with a smile.

So two weeks later, we found ourselves at the Meryton Arena watching our home team defeat their arch-rivals. Jaime was right. Amelia does have quite a pair of lungs on her. She definitely should have been a cheerleader. As she stood there next me, screaming along with all the other fans, I couldn't believe this was the same girl I met last summer. The same girl I thought was to quiet. Boy was I wrong.

We all had such a great time. Not only that, Amy was also able too win over each one of my brothers. She and Matt discussed all their favorite books and authors. While Amy told Chris and Leo all about her college years. Apparently she was friends with guys in several different fraternities. Some of their stunts made Chris and Leo look like amateurs. One stunt involved Fat Tuesday, several drunk guys, the faculty parking lot, some overturned cars and the culprits confessing all to Amy the next morning in student union, over coffee while they nursed their massive hangovers.

After the game we ended up at a sports bar near the arena. We decided to grab a bite to eat before heading home. Little did I know that my brothers would take this opportunity to embarrass me in front of Amy.

"Amy, has Mike ever cooked for you?" Chris asked.

"No," she replied.

"Good. Don't let him. Unless you want a visit from the fire department," Chris said as he took another swig of his beer.

Amy laughed and looked at me before she replied, "He's that bad, huh?"

"He set our tent on fire," Leo piped in.

"No, I didn't. Leo did that," I protested.

"Mike did it," Matt joined in.

"No, I didn't. I'm just the one that got all the blame," I clarified.

"And why is that?" Amy asked with a smile.

"Because I was the oldest," I told her.

"John's the oldest," Amy corrected.

"But I was the only one not setting my marshmallows on fire," John clarified, "The four of them were setting their marshmallows on fire. Then waving them around frantically, trying to put them out."

"That's when Mike set the tent on fire," Chris piped in.

I growled in frustration, "John help me out here," I demanded.

"I never saw who did it," John replied, "Why were you setting them on fire anyway?"

"Because they taste better that way," Amelia remarked, "They become crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle."

I put my arm around her and nodded. "See, great minds think alike. I always knew you had good taste," I said.

"If she did, she would be dating me instead of you," Chris interjected, which earned him a smack upside the head from John.

"Amelia, really, who are you going to believe? Me or dumb, dumber and dumb-ass over there?" I said as I gestured to Matt, Chris and Leo.

"Hey!" the three of them shouted in unison, as Leo grabbed a handful of peanuts and threw them at me.

"Knock it off! You're going to scare Amy," John said waving both his hands over the table.

"Sorry," I told her.

"It's okay. I'm used to it," she replied with a smile and a shrug.

"How can you be used to it?" Matt asked in confusion.

"I have a brother," she replied.

"Yeah, but there's a difference between having one brother and four," John remarked.

"But my brother's friends practically lived at my house. They never wanted to go home," she replied.

"Damn! I always thought we were unique!" Leo commented.

"So Amy, what was it about Mike that made you go out with him?" Matt asked.

"Well, he's handsome and has a killer smile," she replied as I plastered a triumphant grin on my face.

Chris scoffed, "Hello?" he said as he gestured to Leo and himself.

"Um, he's smart and has a beautiful singing voice," she added.

This time it was Matt who raised his hand and pointed to himself.

"He has the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen," Amy said with a smile.

"Nope. That's not it. We're brothers, so we all have the same eyes," Chris said shaking his head.

"Okay, I liked the fact that Mike never hit on me," she replied hoping that would satisfy their curiosity.

"Aw, that's it! She felt sorry for Mike because he has no game," Leo said as if it all made perfect sense to him now.

"Oh, so you knew he wasn't a womanizer. And realized he would never cheat on you because he can't even find a date?" Chris asked.

"Shut up!" I told him as they all started laughing.

We decided to call it a night and I drove Amy home. As I walked her to the front door, I stopped her and said, "You know you were really amazing tonight."

She smiled and replied, "I didn't do anything. I just wanted to get to know your brothers better."

"Yeah, and how many women take the time to do that? Especially with a bunch like us," I said smiling at her.

She wrapped her arms around my neck as she replied, "Well, I enjoyed every minute of it."

"And that is why I love you," I told her. It was the first time I ever said those words. I probably should have planned it out and make it romantic. But I just had to say what was in my heart and what I was feeling at that moment.

She smiled that gorgeous smile of hers as she replied, "I love you too Mike," before she brought her lips to my own in a sweet, passionate, kiss.

That was the first time she ever called my Mike. But it won't be the last, because I don't ever plan on letting her go.

* * *

_Okay, only one more left. So let me know what you guys think :D_


	18. Epilogue

**Author's Notes: Sorry, I know it's been a while but real life has been crazy lately. Plus I intended the epilogue to only be a couple of scenes, but I had so many requests for a sequel that I decided to make it longer. I can't think of a plot for a sequel involving these characters. Therefore I made the epilogue longer, giving you a better picture of their life together. That's why it took so long to write. The moment I thought I was done, I would think of something else I wanted to add. So I hope you like it :D **

_**Thanks for all the great reviews!**_

**Epilogue**

"Honey, wake up," I heard someone whisper in my ear, but I didn't want to move.

"Mike . . . Mike," the all too familiar voice repeated. I couldn't help but let a small smile creep up on my face.

"Faker," the voice accused, but I still refused to open my eyes.

"Fine sleeping beauty," the voice said before their soft lips came into contact with my own. When the lips finally pulled away, I slowly opened my eyes and smiled.

"We did it again," Amelia said as she pointed to the clock.

I looked up to see it was 8:30 in the morning. Shit! I should be at work by now!

I quickly jumped off the couch, careful not to knock Amelia onto the floor, as I looked for my sneakers.

"Want a cereal bar or something? I know you don't have time to wait for coffee," she offered.

"No thanks honey," I said as I stood up to give her a kiss goodbye, "Dinner tonight?"

She smiled and nodded before I gave her another quick peck and ran out the door of Amelia's townhouse.

This had become a really bad habit of ours. Everyday I would come to see Amelia after work. Sometimes we would go out, sometimes we would stay in, but the night always ended the same way. Amelia and I would snuggle up on the couch, both of us unwilling to call it a night and disrupt our time together. Eventually, we would fall asleep in each other's arms, only to wake up the next morning realizing I was late for work, again.

The commute from Meryton to Longbourn didn't help matters either. Luckily, my dad was more than understanding. If it was any other girl, I doubt he would be. But since I brought Amelia home, my father has been very supportive of our relationship. He always tells me I should bring Amelia over to the house.

I know my dad can be overbearing, and always manages to say the wrong things at the wrong times, but Amelia seems to have become accustomed to it. She told me once how lucky I was to get to spend so much time with my dad. Though my father could never replace hers, I think Amelia enjoys having a father figure around. Even if he's not perfect.

Okay, I'm not going to pretend that everything in our relationship has gone smoothly. I mean we're not Katie and John. We still have strong personalities, and falling in love doesn't change that. So we still fight, but not in the same way as we did before. For example, the time we drove to Greta Green to attend a friend's wedding. Amelia really wanted to drive and I wouldn't let her.

Okay, neither one of us may be law-abiding citizens when it comes to following the speed limit. But at least I'm not drinking coffee, and playing with the radio, when I'm driving 80 miles per hour. She calls it multitasking. I call it being scared shitless.

Amy thought I was making some kind of macho, male power play or something, by not allowing her to drive.

On the way there, I decided to take a short cut and ended up getting stuck in traffic. It could have happened to anyone! How I longed for the days when Amelia Darcy sat for hours without saying a word. Amy just couldn't stop herself from commenting on our current situation.

"You know why it took Columbus so long to find the new world?" she asked me.

I knew she was setting me up, but I also knew I wasn't going to be able to shut her up.

"Why?" I responded in annoyance.

"Because a man was behind the wheel," she replied with a smirk as she looked out the passenger side window.

I just turned up the radio and ignored her. Later, the traffic forced me to stay in my lane, and I accidently got off at the wrong exit. Again, Amelia just couldn't keep her pouty lips together.

"Do you know why Columbus thought he had arrived in India?" she asked.

"I don't want to know," I replied dryly.

"Because he didn't stop and ask for directions," she said with a smile.

I just glared at her and turned my attention back to the road. We didn't say another word for the rest of the drive. When we finally arrived, we got out the car and Amelia walked alongside me. She then playfully smacked me on the butt. I couldn't help but smile and grab her hand. I intertwined our fingers and pulled her close to kiss her forehead, while she wrapped her arm around my waist. I draped my arm over her shoulder and we both walked in with huge smiles on our faces.

So as you can see, we haven't changed that much.

In late February, Christine gave birth to a baby boy they name Dylan. Amelia said the poor boys were going to be teased relentlessly. Daniel and Dylan Darcy. She said it sounded like their names belonged in a nursery rhyme!

A few weeks later, Amelia and I went to visit them. Jeff and Christine were absolutely exhausted. They said the baby had kept them up most of the night, and when they finally went to sleep, Danny woke them up just a couple hours later. We felt so bad for them that we offered to take the boys for the day, so they could get some rest. Jeff and Christine were eternally grateful.

Now I don't know that much about babies, so I was a little apprehensive. But Amelia said she was an old pro, so not to worry. It was the first day of spring, so we decided to take Danny and Dylan to the park. After I pushed Danny on the swings, as Amy sat on a bench with Dylan, we decided to walk over to the duck pond. When we finally ran out of food, I walked over to the trash can to dump the bag. There was a man sitting on a bench near by and he commented I had a beautiful family.

I stood there for a second before I turned to look back towards the pond. Amelia was crouched down so Danny could be at eye level with Dylan. Danny was pointing out all the ducks to his baby brother, even though he was still too young to understand. Amy was just smiling as Danny animatedly talked to Dylan.

At that moment I knew. I knew without a doubt I wanted that. I wanted to have a family with Amelia. I wanted her to be my wife and I wanted us to build a life together. I thanked the man for his compliment, not bothering to correct him, and returned to Amy and the boys.

* * *

"I love you with all my heart. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?" I asked.

I suddenly heard laughter erupt from behind me. I turned to see Chris, Leo and Matt keeling over with laughter. I started muttering every four-letter word in the book.

"Whoa Mike! What's Amy going to say when she finds out you just proposed to Charlie!?" Chris said in between chuckles.

Before I had a chance to respond, John stood up, yanked all three of them into the room and locked the door.

"Shut up!" he told them. "Mike is going to propose to Amy, and the three of you are going to keep this information to yourselves."

Matt stopped laughing and looked up at me, "Really? You're really going to pop the question?"

I just grinned in response.

"But haven't you only been dating for like, what, three months or so?" Matt continued.

"So?" John said with a shrug, "They've known each other just as long as Katie and I have. We all met on the same day."

"And I could tell there was something between the two of them, ever since Mike sang to her on the 4th of July," Charlie added.

"I did not sing to her on the 4th of July," I said rolling my eyes.

"Like I said, I could see the sparks between the two of them, when Mike refused to tear his gaze away from her on the 4th of July," Charlie repeated.

"Well, there goes my plan of stealing Amy when she's on the rebound. I was so sure she was going to dump you," Chris commented. Surprisingly, this time it was Leo and Matt who both smacked him upside the head.

"Ow! Damn it! Can't you people take a joke!?" Chris hissed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"So, how are you going to propose?" Leo asked.

"We were just discussing that," Charlie replied.

"Then why didn't you ask us?" Leo wondered.

John pointed to the spot where Matt, Leo and Chris had just been laughing like hyenas and said, "Does that answer your question?"

"Hey! We can help. We were just taken off guard, that's all," Leo defended.

"Whatever. I don't care. As long as you don't tell anyone I'm planning to propose. I don't want someone to tell Amelia and ruin the surprised," I told them.

"So what are you planning to do?" Matt asked.

"I'm still not sure," I admitted.

"I read a story once where a guy proposed on the top of a Ferris wheel," Matt suggested.

"Oh! That's good! You can refuse to let her down until she says yes," Chris interrupted.

I sighed in exasperation, "I don't need to coerce her into marrying me!"

"Oh, really. Are you sure? Because you're not the easiest person in the world to live with," Chris replied.

"Why don't you ask Katie for some ideas?" Matt said, ignoring Chris' comment.

"I did. She said Amy wanted it to be a surprise. And she didn't want to be dressed in jeans or sweats when it happened," I informed them.

"Well that rules out proposing on a scoreboard at a baseball game," Leo remarked.

"You can jump out of one of those big, fake, cake things," Chris suggested.

"I'm proposing to Amelia. I'm not planning a bachelor or bachelorette party, you moron," I replied.

"Uwe! A bachelor party!" Chris and Leo hollered in unison.

"We'll be in charge of that," Chris said as he pointed to Leo and himself.

"There won't be a bachelor party, if I don't think of a way to propose to Amy!" I said in frustration.

"Doesn't matter. We'll throw one for you anyway," Leo piped in.

"How do you figure that?" Charlie asked with a frown.

"Please don't ask them to explain their logic," I pleaded with him.

"Well, you see, Mike will need a bachelor party either way. Either Amy says yes and we'll be celebrating his last days as a free man. Or she says no, in which case we will be celebrating the fact that Mike will remain a bachelor for the rest of his life," Leo explained.

"Yeah, Amy is the only woman willing to put up with Mike. So if she turns him down, he has absolutely no hope of ever finding anyone else," Chris finished as everyone laughed.

"Shut up!" I yelled as I threw a magazine from the break room's coffee table at him.

"See! What'd I tell you! No one wants to put up with that for the rest of their lives!" Chris retorted.

"Why don't you sing to her? She loves to hear you sing," Leo suggested out of the blue, quieting everyone's laughter.

I stood there for a second before I walked over and hugged him. I think this was the first and only smart thing to ever come out of Leo's mouth.

I had always planned to propose to Amy in private but I soon realized it wasn't going to happen. First and foremost, I couldn't think of a way to propose without getting her suspicious. Second, now that my brothers, Katie and Charlie knew what I was planning, they all wanted to be there. They all begged me to let them be present when I proposed because they wanted to celebrate with us afterwards.

After much planning, we finally decided that Katie would host a party, claiming to be wedding related, and I would propose there. Then after I proposed, we would reveal that it was really an engagement party. I was glad that Katie offered to do this for us. I thought proposing to Amelia at Katie's house was fitting, considering that is where we first became a couple on New Year's.

Katie was absolutely thrilled when I first asked her for help in picking out Amelia's ring. She instantly started going on, and on, about how now they were officially going to be sisters. And they were even going to share the same last name. She shrieked when she realized they both were going to be Mrs. Bennet, and then erupted in a fit of giggles. I just smiled and nodded. You can't be mad at Katie, even when she gets all excited and girly like that. She even went so far as to suggest a double wedding. That is when John had to step in and calmer her down. If he hadn't, she would have proceeded to go on and name our future children.

I thought planning the party would be too much for Katie to handle, sense she was already planning her wedding. Katie said it wasn't a problem. Amelia had planned Katie's engagement party while she was in the process of merging two companies. So Katie was sure she could handle it. She said that was what best friends were for, and she wanted to return the favor since Amy did such a beautiful job on her party.

Matt agreed to have his band perform that night. I also saw it as fitting, considering the first time we danced together was to Matt's band. I started to get really nervous as the date of the party approached. Too many people knew what was really going on, and I was afraid one of them would slip up and tell Amy. Katie and my brothers loved the fact that they were in on the secret. They kept winking at me, or giving me these dumb looks, whenever Amy was around. I was so sure they were going to blow it for me.

Finally, the day of the party arrived and I walked Amelia up to Katie's front door.

"Why is Katie throwing this party again?" I asked, trying to act nonchalant about it.

"I told you she said it was a thank you for putting up with her for the last few months, and all the wedding craziness," Amy replied.

"Wouldn't throwing another party only make her even more crazy?" I asked, trying to make her think I didn't want to be there.

"Well, that's Katie for you I guess," she replied as she opened the door.

We had been there for twenty minutes and everything was going as planned. Right on cue, Matt came up to me and asked if I could fill-in for him. Amy smiled as I went over to the band, but was surprised when I took the position of lead singer.

"Hello everyone, this next song is especially for Amelia," I said into the microphone.

I slowly started playing Matt's guitar before I sang:

_There now, steady love,_

_so few come and don't go_

_Will you won't you,_

_be the one I always know_

_When I'm losing my control,_

_the city spins around_

_You're the only one_

_who knows, you slow it down_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, Be my baby_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, Be my baby_

_I'll look after you_

_And I'll look after you_

_If ever there was a doubt_

_My love, she leans into me_

_This most assuredly counts_

_She says most assuredly_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, Be my baby_

_I'll look after you_

_After you_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, Be my baby_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh_

_It's always have and never hold_

_You've begun to feel like home_

_Yeah_

_What's mine is yours to leave or take_

_What's mine is yours to make you own_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, Be my baby_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, Be my baby_

_Oh, oh, oh, oh_

I slowly started to approach Amelia as I sang the last few lines of the song. When I finished I was standing in front of her and everyone was quiet. I quickly handed John the guitar before I got down on one knee. I heard some people gasp in excitement, but all I could do is stare into Amelia's eyes. They were already glazed over with unshed tears, as she raised her right hand to her lips. I could see her bottom lip was quivering.

"Amelia Darcy, I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me?" I asked.

At first all she could do was nod, but then she dropped her hand from her mouth and smiled that big, beautiful smile of hers as she said, "Yes . . . yes!"

My face lit up as I quickly pulled the ring out of my pocket and placed it on her finger. I stood up and she threw her arms around my neck. The people around us started screaming and cheering as I lifted her off the ground and kissed her.

Our kiss didn't last for very long because we were quickly surrounded by our families, embracing us and offering their congratulations.

We decided to get married in Pemberley at the end of May. I know some people might say it was too soon. Why rush? But we just wanted to be together. We didn't feel the need for some huge, extravagant, over-the-top wedding, though my father thought otherwise.

Katie was disappointed that we turned down her offer of having a double wedding. Yet, she couldn't help but joke that Amelia and I were so competitive, that we just had to get married a few weeks before she did.

We decided to get married in the Darcy's backyard. Not only was the Darcy home the site of our first kiss, and where I fell in love with Amelia, it was also covered in cherry trees. During the spring months the cherry trees become completely covered in pink blossoms. It's a beautiful sight that must be seen to believe. So we decided to get married under the Darcy's rose covered gazebo, underneath all the blooming cherry trees.

Hundreds of pink blossoms had fallen from the trees, covering the ground like a blanket, as Jeff walked Amelia down the isle. Before the wedding, Jeff, his buddies and I all had a little chat. Apparently Mrs. Darcy was right when she said Jeff's friends saw Amelia as their little sister too.

To make a long story short, Amelia will be treated like a princess because I want to keep all my body parts. After all kidding and warnings were put aside, Jeff told me he believed I would take excellent care of his baby sister. He could see that I made her happy. I smiled, shook his hand and promised I would continue to do my best to keep Amelia happy.

I planned a little surprise for the end of the ceremony. When we were pronounced husband and wife, I had them play _Brown Eyed Girl_ instead of the traditional wedding march. Amelia, who had already shed a few tears, couldn't stop them from flowing. They were tears of happiness. She was so touched that I remember her dad on our wedding day. It was like her dad was with us, blessing our new life together.

We postponed our honeymoon for a couple of weeks because of John and Katie's wedding. We decided to backpack through Europe. Several times throughout our trip, the differences between the two of us were quite apparent.

There were times when I just wanted to strangle her for dragging me to a musical in London, not to mention the ballet, the symphony and the opera in Rome. "When in Rome . . ." she said to me. Honestly, there were times I would have rather poked my eyes out instead of listening to that crap. But this is the woman I married. This is the woman I love. And I plan on paying her back by dragging her to wrestle mania, and the monster truck rally, the next time they're in town.

Oh yes, I know marriage is a compromise, and I plan to take full advantage of that fact.

After we spent six weeks traveling through Europe we then headed to Africa. We spent the last two weeks of our trip in the little African village that Amy had volunteered at. I was amazed at all the people who remembered her. It was like she had originally told me, she was visiting old friends. They all embraced me when she told them we were married. It was like I was instantly part of their family. They even hosted a big dinner to celebrate our marriage.

When we got back home, I have to admit, married life was an adjustment.

"Give it to me," Amy demanded.

"No," I replied.

"I said give it to me," she repeated.

"No!" I said sternly.

"Now!" she demanded.

"Forget about it!" I told her.

"You're such a damn dictator! Who gave you the right to have total control over the remote!?" she bellowed.

"Do you not remember love, honor and obey?" I said mockingly.

"You obviously weren't paying attention, cause I told the minister to leave the obey part out," Amy said with a smirk.

"What happened to you hardly ever watching television?" I questioned.

"That's even more of a reason why I should get to see what I want. You watch TV every night," Amy retorted.

"There is no way in hell that I'm going to watch _Masterpiece Theater_," I proclaimed.

"You've never even seen it before," she protested.

"So," I said dryly.

"Why don't you give something new a chance?" Amy continued.

"Don't want to," I said flatly.

"You gave me a chance," Amy pointed out.

"Yeah, and I'm regretting that at the moment," I replied.

"Oh really? Do you regret this?" she said as she leaned over and kissed me. Just when I started to deepen the kiss she pulled away and then, whomp. She hit me in the face with a throw pillow as she took the remote control out of my hand.

"You sneaky little . . . ugh! Give me that!" I said in annoyance.

"No!" Amy said as she changed the channel. The screen flashed the words_ Pride and Prejudice_.

"_Pride and Prejudice_! What's this about? The civil war or something? Go get your _Gone With_ _The Wind_ DVD, put it in your laptop and give me the remote," I replied.

"No!" she said putting an end to our fight.

I had never lived with a woman before, well except for my mom, but that was different. So imagine my surprise when I stepped into the shower and found five different shampoo bottles. Why in the hell does she need so many? I absentmindedly grabbed one of the bottles, squeezed the contents into my hand, and worked it into my hair. When I got out of the shower, I noticed my hands had turned brown. What the . . .

"Amelia!" I yelled.

She came running into the bathroom and asked, "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Look," I said as I showed her my hands. She frowned for a second and then turned to look in the shower. She then looked back at me and started laughing.

"Didn't you even look at the bottle?" she asked through her laughter.

"Why should I look at the bottle? Shampoo is shampoo," I said.

"You didn't use shampoo. You used hair glaze!" she said as she busted up in another fit of laughter.

"Hair glaze! What the hell is hair glaze!?" I asked as my anger started to rise the more she laughed.

"Let's put it this way. Everyone will know you're a _Brilliant Brunette_!" she said as she continued laughing.

Dumb girls and their dumb, stupid, beauty products! Needless to say, I bought my own shampoo from then on.

After a couple of months, we got used to living together and each other's idiosyncracies. I got used to Amelia blasting rock music, the moment the alarm went off, because it was the only way to keep herself from falling asleep again. In return, Amy realized I was always going to put the milk back in the refrigerator, even if there was only a drop left.

One day we went to visit Amy's mom and we happened to notice a for sale sign on the way there. It was an old farm house on a large piece of land. It needed a lot of work, but we instantly fell in love with it. So Amy and I moved to Pemberley.

Before we moved into the house we actually stayed with Amy's mom for a few nights, while we had the floors refinished. We were up late one night, raiding the fridge.

"Honey will you cut me a piece of cake?" Amy asked.

"Sure sweetheart," I answered as I grabbed a knife. "Hey, wait a second. You've never asked me to cut you a piece of anything before," I stated.

"So? Is that too much to ask?" she said plainly.

"No. But that's not why I brought it up. This is the cake your mom made for tomorrow night, isn't it? You're trying to set me up, aren't you?" I accused.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Amy replied, trying to act all innocent.

"When your mom wakes up tomorrow and accuses you of ruining her dessert, your going to tell her I did it, aren't you?" I asked

"I can't believe you think so little of me," she said pretending to be hurt.

"Yeah, right. I love you, and I know how your mind works. And right now, you're trying to set me up to take the fall with your mom," I told her.

"Even if my mom did get mad at you, which I doubt she will, isn't that your job. Somewhere in our marriage vows, didn't it say something about you protecting me or something along those lines. Well, by cutting the cake, you'll be protecting me from my mother's wrath," she reasoned.

"I don't think so, but nice try. I don't want to get your mom mad at me," I replied.

"When has my mom ever gotten made at you? You have her wrapped around your little finger. She even seems to love you more than she loves me," Amy proclaimed.

"Yeah, because I don't ruin her desserts," I said simply.

"Fine then, I'll do it," Amy said grabbing the knife, "Do you want some?"

"Sure, why not? It's not like I'm the one who's going to get yelled at," I said with a smirk.

"Right," she said before she smashed some cake on my face and started laughing.

I grabbed her wrist to prevent her from continuing to smear it all over my face.

"I always knew you were a brat from the moment I met you," I said as I pulled her to me for a kiss. I was sure to rub my cheeks all over her face when I was done. Now we were both laughing, with our faces covered in cake and whipped cream.

"What a pretty picture you two make. You know Michael, when I gave her to you, I thought I was getting rid of one troublemaker. But now it seems I have two on my hands," Mrs. Darcy said walking into the kitchen.

"Hi mom, you know she started it. She always does," I replied.

"Yes, I know," she said with a sigh.

I always find it entertaining watching Amy and her mother interact. Since I don't have any sisters, I can't help but wonder if all mothers and daughters act the way they do.

Amelia and I were in the kitchen as Mrs. Darcy was putting away the dishes. Mrs. Darcy opened a cabinet and then proceed to stare at it in disbelief. Her eyes went wide and her mouth was hanging open in confusion. Suddenly realization must have dawned on her because she turned to look at Amy, who conveniently looking the other way. Amy was sitting on the counter with her legs crossed, looking at a blank wall as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Mrs. Darcy said, "Amelia."

"Hmm," she replied as she turned to look at her mother with a straight face. Though I could see amusement in her eyes.

"Where'd you put it?" Mrs. Darcy asked.

"Where'd I put what?" Amelia asked innocently.

"You know what," Mrs. Darcy told her.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," Amelia replied still trying to keep a straight face.

"The chocolate. Where'd you hide the chocolate?" Mrs. Darcy asked again.

"What chocolate?" Amy asked wrinkling her nose.

"The chocolate I had in here," Mrs. Darcy said, motioning with her head toward the cabinet.

"And why would you keep chocolate in there?" Amy inquired.

"Because my troublesome daughter likes to pull stunts like this," she replied.

"You mean you were trying to hide the chocolate from me," Amy said, pretending to be offended.

"Yes," Mrs. Darcy answered dryly.

"Well you know what they say mom, the mind is the first to go. You probably just forgot where you put it," Amy said with a shrug.

"Amelia! I know you took it! Now where is it?" Mrs. Darcy said losing her patience.

"I'll give you a hint. It's somewhere in this room," Amy said as she moved her index finger in a circular motion.

Mrs. Darcy groaned in frustration while Amy jumped off the counter and stood behind me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and hid her chin behind my shoulder.

Mrs. Darcy was about to say something when we heard a big bang. We turned to see Psycho sitting on his butt, shaking his head. He had run full speed into the glass door, again. All three of us let out a chuckle before I suggested, "Babe, maybe you should take him to obedient school or something."

Amelia just shook her head and replied, "Hun, you can't cure stupid."

"Maybe he needs glasses," I wondered as Amelia walked over to him.

She rubbed his head before picking him up, "I know what the problem is," she told us before she lifted Psycho higher so she could look into his eyes.

"Psycho," she said sternly, "Crack is wack. Just say no!" before she cradled him in her arms again.

I just had to laugh. That dog was crazy. We had come home one night to find he had dragged all my dirty laundry downstair. He was laying on the couch, trying his best to rip my underwear to shreds. Amy was no help. She thought the whole thing was hilarious.

After we moved into our new house, we received the shock of our lives when we found out Amy was pregnant. Okay, well it wasn't that big of a shock, but honestly we hadn't planned to start a family this early. So it was a surprise. My father was completely elated. He finally was going to be a grandfather. I think most men wouldn't get so excited when being referred to as grandpa. But not my dad. He kept bragging to his buddies that his first grandchild was finally on its way.

I suddenly became his favorite son. He would put his arm around me, and tell me that I couldn't have chosen a better wife. He said how happy he was for me and Amy, and the life and family we were creating together. I had never seen my dad so sentimental before. He started doting on Amy every time we went to visit. He would tell her to sit and put her feet up, because he didn't want the little mommy-to-be to over exert herself. My mom was shocked and told me she wished he had treated her that way every time she was pregnant.

Amy and I decided to wait to find out whether the baby was a boy or a girl.

"What about Jane?" she asked.

"Jane Bennet. That could work," I said with a shrug, "How about Jason?"

"No, definitely not," she said with a shake of her head.

"Why?" I asked.

"It reminds me of _Friday the Thirteenth_," she replied.

"Well I guess Freddy's out," I said with a smirk.

"Yup," she replied with a nod.

"Wait a second, does that mean you associate me with _Michael Meyers_?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Definitely. Why do you think I hid the butcher knives on Halloween?" she said with a laugh as I threw a pillow at her.

"Hey!" she protested, but I just ignored her and continued.

"How about Ryan?" I suggested.

"Why are you so convinced we're going to have a boy? There's a 50/50 chance it's a girl you know," she told me.

"More like one in nine," I remarked.

"How do you figure?" Amy asked in confusion.

"Well, I'm one of five boys. Then the odds change in your family, because your mom had one boy and one girl. But then the odds switch back because Jeff had two boys," I explained.

"Did you even take human biology or statistics? Or are you just pulling all this out of thin air? Because I don't think genetics works that way," she told me.

"Just wait and see. We're having a boy," I said as a matter of fact, "Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up with five boys."

"We could easily end up with five girls," Amy remarked.

"Five Bennet girls. I shudder at the thought," I said as I shook my head.

"Why? You'll only love our children if they turn out to be boys?" Amy asked in disbelief.

"No. I'm just imagining how hard it would be to keep all the boys away from our daughters. I'd probably have to send them away to some convent," I said in all seriousness.

Amy just sighed and shook her head.

"How about William?" I asked.

"William Darcy Bennet. Hmmm . . . how about Fitzwilliam?" she asked as her face lit up.

"What!?" I exclaimed.

"Fitzwilliam. It's my mom's maiden name . . . what? Why are you looking at me like that? Fitzwilliam is cool," Amy declared.

"This coming from the woman who named her dog Psycho and her cat Ferrari. Really Augusta, you should know better than to stick your kids with names like that," I said shaking my head.

"Fine Finnaeus," she retorted.

Remember how I said I wanted a wife who would surprise me. Someone who would always keep me guessing to what she might come up with next? Well I definitely got my wish. Especially during the last few months of Amelia's pregnancy. I can not tell you my level of surprise every time I found her eating one of her many concoctions. Every thing from bemused laughter to shock and horror, to plain disgust. I think her infamous creation was the tuna fish and strawberry jam sandwich. She looked at me like it was the most natural combination in the world.

"What? You put cranberry sauce on your turkey. It's the same thing," she said like I was just some big idiot.

I was about to make a wise crack, which she could tell from the smirk on my face, as she continued, "Before you make another one of your smart aleck remarks, I'd like to remind you that I'm pregnant with your baby. You did this to me. And because of you I am as big as a house right now. So if you piss me off, I'll just sit on you!"

"Okay, okay, fine," I said as I put my hands up in surrender. I knew I shouldn't be pissing off a pregnant lady, but I have to admit it was fun. Come on now! I know Amelia and if the tables were turned, I knew she would be giving me a hard time. And believe me, I got my punishment in the delivery room. I knew Amelia was in a lot of pain, but I was in a lot of pain having to put up with her.

"Ow, ow, ow, this really hurts!" she told me as another contraction hit.

"Okay, okay, just breathe," I said in a calm voice.

"Breathe, breathe! I would be dead if I wasn't breathing you idiot!" she yelled as she grabbed her stomach, turned to her side and groaned.

"Okay, calm down," I said softly.

"Calm down, calm down! You whined like a baby when you got a splinter in your finger, and I tried to get it out. And now you're trying to tell me to calm down! I'm having a baby here! That's a whole lot worse than your stupid splinter!" she yelled.

"Well, I don't know. That was a pretty big splinter," I remarked, "Ow!" I yelled as Amy smacked me on the shoulder.

"You're choosing now to be a comedian!? Don't!" she screamed.

"I'm just trying to get your mind off the pain," I said putting my hands up in surrender.

"Well, in that case, YOU SUCK!" she screamed as she grabbed her stomach again.

Shortly after we welcomed our son into the world. His grandparents, five uncles and two aunts were all in the waiting room waiting to meet him.

In the end, we decided we wanted our son's name to mean something to us. Amy wanted to name him after her dad, who coincidently shared his name with her brother. I wanted to name our son after my best friend and brother, John. We both decided we didn't want our son to be John Bennet III. So Amelia and I named him Jeffery John Bennet, giving him the names of both his uncles and grandfathers.

Jeff calls him JJ as payback for Amy making fun of Daniel and Dylan Darcy.

Our little Jeffery got a new cousin a year later, when Katie gave birth to a boy they named Benjamin. Yes, another boy and yes, I know what you're thinking.

Ben Bennet.

Hey, don't look at me. I didn't name him!

Our little Jeff loves playing with Danny, Dylan and Ben. When I see all of them together, I can't help but remember my childhood, and my relationship with my brothers. The four of them got an addition to their little group when Amelia gave birth to Elizabeth Bennet. The boys absolutely fell in love with our little Lizzie.

Actually it wasn't just them. Lizzie was the first girl to be born in both of our families. She has Amelia's long eyelashes, curly hair and pouty lips. Lizzie has my eyes though. Our moms say she has a perfect mixture of both of our personalities. Lizzie is adventurous and fearless like Amy was at her age. She also has Amy's love for books. Lizzie can also be quite stubborn and willful, just like me.

My dad is proud of his grandsons but he is completely in awe of his granddaughter. Lizzie has all the Bennet and Darcy men wrapped around her little finger. She's smart too. Lizzie's learned that all it takes is a kiss on the cheek, or a pout on her small lips, and the men in our family will be putty in her hands. This is what really has me worried. If she's like this as a toddler, imagine how she will be as a teenager. All teenage boys better steer clear of me.

The End

_There it is. The end of my first attempt at writing anything in my life. So what did you guys think?_

* * *

Slade and King. Look After You. **The Fray**, _How To Save A Life_, Epic Records, 2005. 


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